


Volume I: Butterfly Kisses

by RosVailintin



Series: Love Takes Two [1]
Category: Westlife
Genre: Alternate History, Alternate Universe - 1990s, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Real World, Angst, Bromance to Romance, Chinese Mythology & Folklore, Crimes & Criminals, Crossdressing, Death, Dreams and Nightmares, Dublin (City), F/M, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Multilingue Dirty Talk, My First AO3 Post, Organized Crime, Original Character(s), Pre-Westlife, Quoting Jim Moriarty (Sherlock TV), Sherlock Holmes References, Song Lyrics, Tragedy, Whateva, but i won't say who it is, but if this is pre-westlife there ain't gonna be any westlife cuz someone is dead, song titles, sorry no sex scenes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2016-06-12
Packaged: 2018-04-29 12:51:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5128277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosVailintin/pseuds/RosVailintin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shane Filan and Nicky Byrne were dormmates in college. One day, Nicky got a call from Carl Calverly the director, inviting him to perform in his new ballroom dance. His job, however, was to be a substitute. A substitute for Shane's high school rival in the love triangle with Gillian. And things began to go wrong from the very first time the rehearsals with Nicky commenced. Would Shane, or anyone else, ever be able to make it right again? Or maybe this one glance, this one touch, this one word, was doomed to be the last one?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pictures In My Head

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone, this is my first work on AO3!  
> The plot goes on in AU, and of course I don't own the band. All original characters aren't referring to anyone specifically, and the names of places are just used for the plot.  
> This work was first inspired by two Chinese folklores, 梁山伯與祝英台 and 嫦娥奔月, and also the Sherlock Holmes stories (the original ones by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle). And a shout out to WMC ([happyyyygolfdish](http://happyyyygolfdish.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr), thank you for many of the great/cool/funny/evil/wierd/I-don't-know-what-the-heck-it-is ideas in the story! And there're loads and loads of original characters in this work (technically apart from the Westlife boys, they're are all original...and although I put Levi/Eren in the tags, actually it's NOT my OTP so I'm simply taking WMC's suggestion and using their names for original characters, sorry if this disappoints you)  
> And it's Volume I of the _Love Takes Two_ series, and Shnicky is the main pairing. More BK in Volume II.  
>  Anyway, hope you enjoy it!  
> PS I'm really sorry for the sad ending...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What could a dream signify? When it became too beautiful, too good to be true...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go! It's an extremely short chapter and probably the shortest in the whole work but IT'S IMPORTANT guys. You'll find it so important for the story in the end :)

**PART I**

In the morning light, half awake and half asleep, have you ever laid there thinking, Was it all a dream?

\- Have You Ever Been In Love

* * *

'Hey Nix?' Shane woke up, and saw the person by the window.

'Yeah?' He didn't move.

'I had a dream last night.'

'Oh.'

'You know what, I dreamed of two butterflies. They had beautiful wings, and it was a world filled with all kinds of flowers.'

'Sounds nice.'

Silence.

A new day. College life was not that bad as it first seemed like, especially when you had a good friend as your dormmate. Nicky had previously spent a year touring with the National Team, so he was a year older than most of the students here, but they still got along amazingly well.

Shane thought about the dream. Two butterflies. Flowers. Why?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, Chapter I is finished, thanks for reading! You'll find some connection between this and the last chapter.


	2. The Dance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How could a crime ever start? How could an ordinary boy ever become a cruel criminal? And what did life ever mean when a person has topped this devil's target list, and when his life has been planned to be taken in exchange for another's?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is how the main story begins! By the way it was my lovely friend WMC's suggestion that I write a bit Levi/Eren thing, and they aren't my OTP.

#### PART II

Please just let me know, and put my mind at ease for sure.

\- Bop Bop Baby

* * *

A quiet morning - interrupted by a call.

Nicky turned around and picked up the phone.

'Hello?

'Yes?

'Why me?

'Oh, got it.

'Okay.

'My pleasure.

'Bye.'

He put the phone down, 'Shane?'

'Yeah?'

'I'll be out every night for a few months.'

'For what?'

'Mr Calverly's new ballroom dance.'

'He's got his dancers, whattaya do there?'

'The lead dancer's a playboy, the only son of a rich family, the spoiled kind, you know. Mr Calverly's afraid that he may quit, 'cause you know, these dancers don't really get a good pay - at least those cash won't satisfy HIM. He said he's already got that bored look at recent rehearsals.'

'So...you're the substitute for him?'

Nicky nodded, 'Something like that. We're starting tonight.'

'Can I go with ye?'

'What do you do there? You'll stay here in this room.'

'There's not gonna be anybody breaking in or - well, even if there is, he ain't gonna get nothing - and the guards let YOU out, so there's -'

'You go get some breakfast?'

'Don't change the topic.'

'It's not early now. There'll be no seat soon.'

'Can I just go to the rehearsals with you?'

'I'm going to the café. Don't forget your morning lectures.' Nicky rubbed Shane's hair and left.

'Take a coffee for me!'

He fell back to the bed. The fragrance of Nicky's _CK Eternity_ remained.

It's a beautiful morning, and he wanted a beautiful night.

 

#### PART III

So even when you're fast asleep, look for me inside your dreams.

\- Close Your Eyes

* * *

'You REALLY won't let me go with you?'

'No.'

'REALLY no?'

'No.'

'C'mon, you don't mean it.'

'Yes, I do.'

'Say no with your hand on your heart.'

'Shut up.'

'I won't be standing there watching you like parents watching those 'lil kids having dance classes.'

'Of course you won't.'

'I'll find a club down there.'

'You're fucking mad.' Nicky glanced at him, 'If you get drunk I'm not gonna carry you.'

'But -'

'Now go to bed and have a good sleep, and I'll be here tomorrow morning.'

'Aren't you tired?'

'Not really. I grabbed some nap during lunch break. And anyway, I won't spend the whole night there.'

He sat down on the edge of Shane's bed, bent forward, and left a light kiss on his forehead.

'Goodnight.' He whispered.

 

#### PART IV

I know who you are, you're here in my heart.

\- Closer

* * *

Streets were less busy at night, rather empty, even. Carl Calverly, the director and choreographer who had stepped into the hall of fame a few years ago in his early 20's, best known for his manly Anglo-Saxon look, lean and graceful body of a dancer, and his bisexuality, was waiting on the main road in front of the training hall, not far from the theatre where the dance would be on next month. He saw something - or someone, to be exact - out there at the end of the street.

A black vehicle far away, with lights on. Carl was already close to numb with waiting, and this one didn't really catch his attention either. So many black cars with lights on had come and gone, and the boy he had been waiting for wasn't among them. He was even wondering if he would ever show up. He looked at that black vehicle again. It's not supposed to be a car - not an intact one, at least, if it was - with a single headlight.

Interesting, he thought, and quite fast.

He waited, wanting to know who this was on what kind of vehicle.

It came closer and closer. Carl recognised that it's a shiny black motorbike. The rider was in a same black colour, and as glittering in the, though, not very dark night. With a helmet, the face of the motorcyclist couldn't be seen clearly, but in the dim light from the streetlamps, he could tell that the rider was in a black skintight suit, and had small slender waist and elegant legs.

'Quelle déesse.' He murmured to himself.

The rider pulled up under a chinar by thye street quite gently, not as those in the films taking a wide turn before slowing down and scattering dust into the air. Then she took off the helmet, and habitually swang her blond hair a little. Not the long and wavy kind Carl had expected; her hair just reached the neck, covering half of the right eye in such a nice way. She was on the other side of the street, her side towards Carl, and it was beautiful. She's got a light complexion, quite comely, and quite cool at the same time. She got off and took a quick look around, and leaned back against the chinar to call someone.

Carl's own phone rang.

'Hello?'

'Hello. Is that Mr Calverly?' It was a tranquil and magnetic voice, kind of husky. He had heard this voice somewhere before, but he couldn't remember. He's got bigger things to worry about these days than the voices in the phone, though he pretty much liked this one.

'Yes, it is.'

'It's Nicholas Byrne. We've agreed to meet at the training hall. I'm now in front of the gate across the main road.'

'Well wait...I haven't found you yet...'

'I'm under one of the plane trees.' Nicky added, 'I came by motorbike. I think I can see you.'

'Oh, so that's you?' Carl took one more good look at the motorcyclist whom he thought was a diosa a moment ago, silently making an apology.

'You see me?'

'Oh yes, I'm at the gate, and I can see you.' He waved.

'I'm coming.' Nicky waved back, picked up the motorbike, crossed the road and headed to the gate.

'You have the gift of modelling.' Carl patted him on the shoulder, 'You've got that...that style when you walk.'

The boy let out a small laugh, 'What about dancing?'

'Well,' he raised an eyebrow, 'I'd say that good models - most of the good models - are good dancers too.'

He responded with a smile. THAT smile.

Carl walked in and pulled the door of the rehearsal room. There were already a number of dancers waiting. Nicky followed in, turned around and shut the door.

'Everyone,' Carl took Nicky into his arm, 'this is the dancer I've told you about, Nicholas Byrne.'

Nicky nodded to the small crowd and greeted with a graceful smile. He heard some girls whispering something.

'Okay, quiet, quiet.' Carl continued, 'Have a break and we'll begin soon. You'll perform this play to Nicholas so that he can know what it's about.'

'What about HIS parts?' A girl with big black eyes and dark wavy hair asked.

'I'll do them.' Carl answered without even looking at her, and took Nicky into the props room. Out in the rehearsal room, the dancers were already discussing about this substitute.

'Ladies! What are you shouting about out there?' Carl popped his head out of the props room. 'You're getting too noisy.'

'We're doing our jobs sir.' A boy answered in that American accent. Some burst out laughing.

'Well, I hope so.' Carl shut the door hard.

It wasn't long before he and Nicky came out of the props room and found the crew chatting loudly.

'Ladies, we're playing on stage next month -'

'But don't you find this name kinda familiar? Haven't you heard of Nicholas Byrne before?' A blonde boy interrupted.

'Yes, certainly, their school play was wonderful. And now, Tommy, you shut -'

'Ain't there a guy in Home Farm called Nicholas Byrne?'

'Are you serious, Pat?'

'There IS this guy, I'm sure.'

'No, I mean that's a footballer!'

'Patrick Dovan,' Carl faced the boy whom Tommy called 'Pat', 'you're not supposed to be talking this much.'

'But Nicholas -'

'Nicky.'

'Alight, Nicky, you're - you're not the footballer, are you?'

'Wait Tommy,' Patrick pushed him, 'think about it. Nicky Byrne. Read this name again. Have you heard of it? NICKY BYRNE.'

'No...not really -'

'The pub singer, you mean?'

'Yeah, Louisa, you got it!'

'At Racecourse Inn!'

'That's it, the old fella!'

'You know what, guys, I've seen Ronan Keating there!'

'You're kidding.'

'No, I'm not.'

'So what did he drink?'

'Oh, you sh-'

'Girls, girls! We don't even know which Nicholas Byrne we have here okay?'

This caused one second of silence.

'Definitely not the pub singer.' Someone whispered.

'How do you know?'

'He's too old! I put ten grands in for that.'

'So you HAVE ten grands.'

'You won't get it anyway.'

'But I think I've seen him in some karaoke competitions.'

'Would you all please shut up?' Carl looked at Nicky, 'Look at what a mess you have in your heads. You're rehearsing. And plus, you haven't even let Nicky say a word.'

'Well,' Nicky finally spoke, 'look, I do play for Home Farm -'

'So was that you in the under-18 national team in that championships in Portugal?'

'Yes, it was.'

'And do you sing?'

'If you mean pub singer, no.'

'But wait, there's singing in this ballroom, didn't Carl tell you?'

'So anyways, he has nothing to do with that one in the Racecourse Inn. I said you won't get that ten grands.'

'But he IS a great singer, that old man.'

'That,' Nicky took it up, 'is my father.'

'Mr Nicholas Byrne Jr, ladies and gentlemen.'

'Sounds cool.'

'Maybe you should use another name next time Nicky.' Carl commented, with that naughty phiz, 'By the way...I'm sorry that I forgot to tell you that there's singing for you, but I know you'll do it well, right? I've watched you do Take That and Boyzone, and it was really good.'

Nicky didn't answer.

The rest of the night was going quite right. That girl with big black eyes and dark wavy hair kept glancing at Nicky, even when talking on the phone.

He went back to the dorm in the early morning, around 2 or 3. Shane was still asleep. He got to his bed and didn't thought much about this first day of rehearsal. The talkative boys, the ballroom dance, the dark-eyed and dark-haired girl. Whatever.

What followed was a tranquil morning. Sun was shining, squeezing through the curtains into this little double room, and lighting it up. Shane woke up. The sun was kinda bright. He got up, rubbing his eyes. Then he saw the person on the opposite bed. It seemed like he was deeply asleep, breathing peacefully. The glow of the morning sun casted some shadow on his face. Shane decided not to wake him up. Instead, some kind of emotion inside him dragged him to approach that bed, gently brush back the blond hair, and leave a warm kiss on his forehead.

He smelled his perfume.

 

#### PART V

Another hour passes by, it's gonna be a long night ahead.

\- Miss You When I'm Dreaming

* * *

As usual, a goodnight kiss before saying goodbye. Shane was lying alone in his bed, waiting for that call that would always come at 10:30.

The weather wasn't as nice as that of the day before; it was windy, and showering. The call came a bit late, but there was nothing wrong - at least nothing wrong was mentioned. He closed his eyes.

Shane suddenly woke up in the midnight, and he didn't know why - no nightmare, but he felt weirdly frightened. He got out of the bed and looked out of the window. Dark, raining. Nicky hasn't come back.

He made himself a cup of coffee, leaning against the windowsill.

Nicky should still be in the rehearsal room, or maybe on his way back. Such wind and rain. Those big-name directors like Carl Calverly must be really tough, and Nicky had only one month. Why was he picked for this? What would that playboy think and do if he found it out - or probably he already knew it? He remembered that young man had an especially long name, which he felt like having heard of before. But he couldn't think of any chance that he should hear or see this name. Anyway, it didn't matter. He took a sip of the coffee.

Night passed so slowly. He was gazing into the vanishing point of the road, waiting. He couldn't fall asleep - it may be for the weather. But as a child who grew up in Sligo, thunderstorms shouldn't really be a problem.

A little spot of light appeared at the turning, in front of which raindrops were lit up. Shane turned and looked around the room - he didn't take the raincoat with him.

A few minutes later, the door was opened.

'Sleepless?' Nicky asked in a slightly surprised tone, taking off the wet clothes and putting on another black tee.

'Yeah, sort of - hey, what's that?'

'What?' He quickly got changed.

'You got hurt?'

He turned away. 'No. Nothing.'

'So there IS something.' Shane stood up, 'What is it?'

'I said there's NOTHING.' He sighed, 'I've gotta sleep.'

'There sure is something,' Shane got back to his window-side seat and took another sip of the coffee, 'or you won't try so hard,' the coffee's getting a bit cold now, 'to stress that I'm wrong.'

No response.

Shane turned around. Nicky was, at least it seemed, already asleep. He looked at him for a while. And he stayed in the chair, waiting.

The sky was getting brighter. The coffee was drunk up.

Shane looked at the person in the bed again. Through the loose round neck of the black tee, he could see a bit of graze on his left shoulder. That was what he had seen - he remembered - what Nicky refused to tell him about, those wounds and bruises, dazzling on the fair skin. They were, if he remembered well, all on the right side, all the way from the shoulder to the hipbone. He carefully got up and approached the bed. The tee Nicky was wearing wasn't a thick one, and he saw the raw - it started from the right shoulder, roughly crossed the scapula, and disappeared by the middle of the upper arm. Terrible, he thought. And he did know he saw another bruise on his hipbone. That must have hurt even more. He stepped back and took a look at Nicky again. His breath was regular, peaceful and soft. For a while he fixed his eyes on that face - and the eyelashes quivered. Shane turned away.

Nicky opened his eyes, and saw Shane standing by the window. Shane turned around, and their eyes met. Nicky showed a rather lazy smile, got out of the bed, and glanced outside the window. Again, a new morning.

'How did you get those?' Shane asked.

'What?' Nicky responded, after a short pause, casually. He wasn't facing him.

'C'mon, you know what, the wounds.'

'Oh.'

'So what's happened?'

'Well, I just...I just fell off the motorbike.'

'You JUST fell off the motorbike? Well, then can I say I JUST broke a leg after I fell off the horse -'

'Oh, you did?'

'I mean if you only fell off the motor it wouldn't be this bad!'

'The road was really slippery.'

'No, Nix, no kidding.' Shane caught his chin and turned his face towards him.

'No, I'm not kidding.' Nicky pulled Shane's hand away and looked outside, 'It was raining last night and the road WAS slippery.'

'I mean that's not a proper reason for this. You'd been out by motor for how many times in rainy days?'

'Anyway, they're not as serious as you thought.'

'Oh, well, my bad to worry. Look, Nicky, what do you keep ME in the dark for?'

'I'll go get a shower.'

'You won't.' Shane seized him at the left shoulder and pulled him back - and he heard a sharp noise. Like something hitting the headboard of the bed. And Nicky didn't fight back as he would usually do. He immediately fell onto the bed, supporting himself with the left arm. He habitually licked the lips, threw a quick, strange glance at Shane, and turned his eyes towards the sunlight outside.

Shane wanted to say something, but he didn't know what to say. It seemed as if no word sounded right at this moment.

Nicky tried to stand up.

'Are you...are you okay?'

'I'm fine.' Nicky quickly responded with a shallow smile.

'Well, I...I'm -'

'Look,' Nicky cut his words, 'I know you're just - you're just worried. And I just don't want these little things to worry you that much. But if you're really curious about how I got the "terrible" wounds,' he purposely threw a look at Shane when saying 'terrible', and took a little pause, 'well, I can tell you.'

'...Right then.' Shane murmured, 'Go ahead.'

'You see, it was quite dark last night, and I was in black - all black - so some other lads were playing football by the road and the ball went straight towards me - well, I'm not so sure that they were actually PLAYING football. They were more like...drunks, you know. And so when I noticed that the ball was gonna hit me, it was already late. So I got no time to dodge but let it just hit me in my waist -'

'And so you fell off the motorbike and -'

'Yeah. I was kinda...thrown several feet away off the motorbike and hit the ground.'

'So what did they do to this?'

'I don't know. Probably nothing. I just got up and kicked the ball back.'

'How did you even get up?'

'I...I don't know. I didn't feel any pain or something. And the motorbike was alright.'

'So you don't know who those people are?'

'No.'

'I'm going with you tonight.' Shane looked into his eyes, 'Don't try to stop me.'

Nicky answered with a sigh.

 

#### PART VI

Put your head down on my shoulder.

\- On My Shoulder

* * *

'I've asked Carl to pick us up at the gate.' Shane said while getting ready to leave. He was curious about how they rehearsed, but more than that, he didn't wanna see Nicky coming back like that ever again.

He didn't got any response.

They arrived at the college gate to find a black four-door convertible already there.

'Hey boys,' Carl Calverly opened the rear door, 'come in.'

All the way Carl talked about his plan for the new ballroom Nicky was currently in. Then he mentioned that rich lead actor, how well he danced while how unpleasant this person was, and by the way praising Nicky a fair lot.

They soon arrived. It was really a nice place, the rehearsal room like la Galerie des glaces. Several dancers were already there. Carl simply introduced Shane as his assistant in this ballroom, as brief as how he introduced Nicky. The job Shane would do there, apart from delivering drinks and snacks, was to give Carl his opinion on the dances.

The dance routine was, as most choreographers did, a mixture of several types of dances. It told a rather uncreative story about how a girl was chased by a bunch of boys but finally came to understood there's only one true lover among them, and the lead actress was a lovely French girl called Éline, and it was quite obvious that a dark-eyed, dark-haired girl was rather jealous of her. Though Nicky played the lead role, he didn't have much job to do. During the 2-hour ballroom dance, he would do several waltz with Éline, and a short rumba, a foxtrot, a quickstep, a cha-cha-cha, some jazz, a bit of tap dance, along with several songs during and between the dances, and that's all. His costumes, in Shane's eyes, were almost the same as what he usually wore, all kinds of black skintights with the same V-shaped neckline, except for the rumba where he would be in a long-sleeve open shirt, and a pearl night blue loose shirt for the last waltz. Shane still remembered the drama contest where the play from their college won the first place. Nicky played a young, talented yet unfortunate dancer, but it wasn't a very eye-catching role, and he just appeared on stage for about 10 minutes in total. For that role, he was in white, and it looked totally different. The dances in this ballroom were beautifully choreographed, some rather hot and even provocative, making Shane burn inside.

Maybe that's why he's picked for this fucking midnight job, Shane thought.

During the break, Shane noticed the dark-eyed, dark-haired girl kept glancing at him - glancing, not looking. And it didn't seen like that she had any kind of affection for him.

'Who's that?' He asked Nicky, 'That girl with dark wavy hair.'

'Oh, it's Muriel.'

'Anything special about her?'

'What...no, not really. She's just a bit meddlesome, a bit difficult to get on with. Why?'

'Well...nothing. I just find her kinda...strange.'

'Well, she is, sometimes.'

'She kept looking - glancing at me. From the moment that I went in the rehearsal room.'

For a while, Nicky was silent. And then he whispered, 'Oh, did she.'

That night, Carl drove them back. On the way, they noticed a guy catching up with them, and he carefully controlled the speed to keep up beside them. This young man almost didn't spare a glance at them, but freed his hands from the steering wheel, lit a cigarette, reached his right arm out of the window with it in his hand and let the arm sway.

Carl took a look at this lad. He looked drunk. 'It's him.' Carl murmured.

Carl sped up a bit, and this guy sped up a bit too. Carl slowed down a bit, and this guy slowed down a bit too. Carl pulled up, and this guy pulled up a few metres away from them. Carl started backing, accelerating. The guy followed. Then suddenly, he moved forward, took a perfect U-turn at the next crossing, switched off the lights, and disappeared in the dark.

'I'll still be here waiting for you tomorrow evening, boys.' Carl said, dropping them off at the school gate, then drove back along a different route.

Back in the dorm. It was almost a quarter to 3.

'What do you make of this?' Asked Shane, standing behind Nicky.

'It's not that easy as I'd thought.' Nicky said, gazing out the window, 'But anyway,' he turned around, 'there's nothing for you to worry.'

Shane put his head on Nicky's shoulder. The night was quiet.

 

#### PART VII

Why you act so surprised? I can tell from the guilt in your eyes, it's a love crime to me.

\- Love Crime

* * *

 

They arrived a bit early this time. In the rehearsal room, there was no one but Nicky, Shane and Carl sitting in front of the mirror.

'Stay here, boys. I've got some other things to do.' Carl said and disappeared into the props room.

'Where's everyone? We're just 5 minutes early.' Said Shane.

'Who knows. Anyway, we've got plenty of time.'

'But I'm already sleepy.'

'You can go back. You know the way, don't you.'

'No. I'll stay with you.'

Nicky smiled, standing up.

'You use candles?' Shane looked at the candles on the window sill.

'Yeah. We're gonna use them tonight.'

'They're not for the dances, are they?'

'Well, they are, why not?'

'But such long candles - I mean, what if they fall?'

'That's why we need to practise. And actually, you'll naturally get much more careful once they're lit.'

Shane reached out to get one of them. Nicky glanced at him, not paying much attention for he knew Shane wouldn't break it.

'But Nix, look at this.' He suddenly said, 'What is it?' He pointed at some white powder on the wick.

Nicky took a brief look at it, and checked every candle. 'There's this powder on all of them.'

'Put them down, boys.' Carl came out from the props room and ordered.

'Look at this.' Nicky handed him a candle and pointed at the powder.

Carl stared at it for some time. Then suddenly he was like waking up from a nightmare and rushed to the litter bin, and made a U-turn before he threw anything in and rushed back, put the candles back where they had been. 'Follow me.' He caught the boys' hands and went out the rehearsal room, kicking the door close behind him.

'What is that, Carl?' Shane asked.

'There's no rehearsal tonight, boys. We're in trouble. Finally.'

'What - just what the hell is that fucking powder?'

'Where have they gone? They're all 2 damn minutes late. Shite.' Carl wasn't listening to him at all.

'Is that Muriel?' Nicky pointed at the girl running towards them.

'It must be her. Fuck this little bitch, she's late again.'

'I'm so sorry.' Muriel said, out of breath.

The other dancers followed.

'We were having dinner together.'

'And then we found our car has broken down.'

'Shut up, dude, we've just run out of gas.'

'So we walked here.'

'We literally RAN all the way, okay?'

'Yeah. And I'm dead now.'

'Guys, guys, listen,' Carl said, 'we're gonna rehearse tonight -'

'Fuck!'

'But listen, guys, listen. Come here. I've something to tell you.'

Carl led the dancers into another room where there were some other actors and actresses, and another director.

'Rabbit, I need your props room for a while.'

'Fuck off, you fat Carrot.'

'Oh, c'mon Robot!'

'Fous le camp.'

'Ha! You're angry? Gimme da key, Robbie.'

'¡Vete a la mierda!'

'Right, right, Robert, I'm sorry, okay?' Carl walked over, looking up at this beautiful young man of Latin descent who was almost a full head taller than him, 'C'mon, please, we're in trouble. I'm serious.'

The man sneered and took out the keys from the pocket of those incredibly tight leather pants, 'Take it!'

'Good boy. I'll return your favour tonight.' Carl winked at him and turned to the dancers, 'Roberto Vegaz, everyone.' And then he whispered with a snicker, 'Call him Rabbit, Robot, whatever you like. He won't mind that.'

'Shut your fucking mouth up, Carl!' Roberto threw a watter bottle towards Carl's head, 'Or you want me to shut it for ye?'

Carl escaped the bottle and shouted, half laughing, 'Oh, Rob, stop! The kids are here!' He rolled his eyes, 'Guys, come in.' He opened the door.

After the crew had all gathered in the small, dark space, Carl locked the door, making sure it could not be opened from outside, and turned on the lights.

'Everybody listen,' he continued, 'just now we've found - Nicky, Shane and I have found that the candles we've planned to use tonight had been touched. Between 3:00 this afternoon and 9:55 tonight.'

'By who?'

'I don't know, I'm sorry.'

'Anyone else could be there?'

'No way. They couldn't have the keys. Plus, I've just put them on the window sill this morning and we haven't left the room until 3:00 this afternoon; you guys were all there except Nicky and Shane.'

'Nice ghost story.'

'Tommy, you -'

'Listen to me.' Carl said, 'They were touched, but that's not all. We found this white powder on the wicks.'

'What is it?'

'Anyone here knows this thing called the devil's-foot root? Or Radix pedis diaboli in Latin?'

This question caused a few seconds of silence. The rock music outside could be heard quite clearly.

'Devil's foot?' Muriel first shattered the silence and exclaimed, 'What's that? What a name!'

'You don't need to be that loud, Muriel.'

'I think I've heard of this thing somewhere.' Carl said, 'But -'

'Is it...' Nicky interrupted, 'Is it that kind of plant...whose root can be burnt and -' he didn't continue, but gave Carl a look. Carl looked back.

'I know what you mean.' he whispered.

'Carl? You mean THAT?' Another boy next to Nicky asked in a low voice.

'Well, it's just a guess. But you see, it's put on the wicks, so that means it would be burnt if we hadn't found it. So it must be something that have some effects when being burnt. And obviously it's put there on purpose, 'cause the powder was well hidden in the wicks. If Shane weren't curious about why we use candles and didn't take one, if we didn't get here a bit earlier -'

'Nicky?' Shane whispered.

'Hmm?'

'You do think it is?'

'I don't know. There's nothing sure yet.'

'I mean, what if it's just...you know, just ordinary powder?'

'What - why would you think this way?'

'I just...I don't know, I...'cause there's no smell, and the powder just looked like ordinary flour or something -'

'That's the point. Think about it, what was it like when you found it? The powder looks ordinary, but it's HIDDEN in the wicks. Someone coated the wicks and filled the gaps between them with the powder and twisted them so that the powder wouldn't be noticed from outside. I've never seen any candle with similar powder, whether it's this or something else.'

'But who did this?'

Nicky shaked his head slowly. 'But this guy is rich,' he added, 'rich enough to either buy this powder or go to Africa and get it him or herself. It's a psychotropic drug and can cause panic. People then die from fear, and the scene looks like that of a suicide by taking poison.'

'How do you know this much, Nicholas?' Muriel suddenly asked in a provocative tone.

Nicky took a glance at her, but didn't answer.

'But it doesn't sound that scary.' Patrick commented.

'Yeah, 'cause you know what it is now - at least we seem to have some clue.' Carl said, 'But imagine that you didn't know what it is, and you just saw all the frightening things, the shadows in front of your eyes, and you looked around and everyone seemed to be distorted, and you could neither control the fear inside of you nor get help from someone 'cause you could hardly even recognise anyone or make it to the door to get out. And for people outside, you were just a psychopath. They didn't see the powder. They just saw you as a psycopath. So they rushed in and they panicked too, so that was it, more and more people dying inside and for the crowd outside, they just saw just more and more psyches, until someone was aware that something was going wrong and thought about psychotropic drugs and wear a gas mask in. But by then there're already a bunch of dead bodies.'

'But it's not a really wise idea to use the devil's-foot, if it is what the powder contents.'

'What do you mean, Tommy?'

'You know the Granada series of Sherlock Holmes? They've just finished the 41st episode 2 or 3 years ago, and Jeremy Brett just passed away last year. The devil's-foot root has appeared in one of the 41 episodes. And to be honest, I love that episode. I just hadn't thought that someone could actually get it.'

'But it's still the question: Who did it?'

'Someone who is rich, and can get access to these candles.'

'And who knows that we're gonna use them tonight.'

'But when we lit them this morning there's no panic or whatever.'

'That's the point. This person can enter the rehearsal room whenever he or she like -'

'Éline! She's got the keys!' Muriel cried out.

'Muriel! What have I done?'

'Look, she tries to defend for herself!'

'Vas t'faire encule, toi, sale pute!'

'Blah blah blah...I don't know whattaya talkin' 'bout but look at you, don't try to hide -'

'Répète-le et JE TE CASTRE.' Éline went a step forward, glaring at Muriel, squeezing the words out from her teeth.

'Alright, alright, Lina, calm down. We know it's not you. It can't be you. We trust you.' Carl took her hand. 'Muriel, you SHUT UP from now.'

'But you can't -'

'SHUT UP.' Then Carl turned to the others, 'There're only three people in our crew that always have the keys. Two of them are here, Lina and I.' Carl looked around. 'I don't kill my own dancers, you all know that. I left this room with you and went to the pub with you.' He paused for a second.

'Lina is innocent.' Louisa said, looking at Éline, 'We went back to the dorm together. She had been with me all the time, and we definitely didn't come back here. We have evening lectures.'

'So who's left?' Carl said.

'No it can't be him!' Muriel exclaimed, 'It can't be Felix! It's not Felix! He's a good person and he won't do that! He won't!'

'Anyone said it was him, Muriel?' Pat rolled his eyes at her, 'Don't you think you've made it too obvious? We've really gotta suspect him now.'

'And you tell me, Muriel, who else fits this description: Rich, have the keys to the rehearsal room, have access to the candles, and know that we're gonna light them tonight?' Questionned Carl.

'It's - it's...'

'It's what, Muriel?'

'It's just you haven't found the real criminal and you just randomly suspect someone innocent!'

'Oh well.' Said Louisa loudly, 'This explains so well why you said it was Lina.'

Carl stared at Muriel, 'So you know who did it?'

'I - no, I don't, but I know it's not Felix!'

'How?'

'How do you know it IS him?'

'Our conclusion is drawn through reasoning. And aren't you the one who mentioned the name of Felix first?'

'Then -'

'Wait.' Shane interrupted, 'What's his name again?'

'Felix.' Carl answered, 'Felix Rothenstein. I don't remember the middle names.'

'Felix Rothenstein...Has he got green eyes and dark chocolate hair?'

'Yes, exactly. And quite tall.'

'Oh...'

'What - you know him?'

'Yeah,' Shane glanced at Nicky, 'I think so.'

'So you can prove that it's not him!' Muriel insisted.

'Well,' Shane took a deep breath, 'I'm afraid I can just give more proof that it IS him -'

'Asshole!' Muriel jumped up, came straight to Shane and kicked into his lower abdomen.

'SAY THAT AGAIN!' Nicky grabbed her shirt collar, punched her on the mandible, and threw her towards the wall, 'Say that again.' He growled.

'Nico!' Shane shouted, struggled to get up and dragged him back, 'You're fucking mad, Nix! You can't beat a girl!'

'Oh, yeah, I can't beat a girl.' Nicky put his hands in the pockets, leaned back against the wall, looking up at the ceiling, letting out a long breath, 'So I can just watch her kick you, right?'

'Carl?' A man's voice suddenly called worriedly outside the door. It was Roberto. 'Carl?' He knocked a few more times on the door, 'Are you alright?'

'Yeah, I'm good. What happened?'

'I wanted to ask you. I think I heard fighting.'

'Not me. You can go now. We've got serious business.'

Roberto hesitated a short while outside, then left.

'Boys,' Carl gave Shane and Nicky a look, 'come here and tell me what you know about Felix.' He led them into a dressing room.

'It's a long story.' Shane began, 'We were schoolmates in high school, and our classrooms were on the same floor. He's - you know, he's born in a really rich family. Though this family is declining, they're still very wealthy. And at that time, we liked the same girl -'

'Gill?'

'Yeah, Gill. But she seemed to prefer me - well, she did. And her cousin was a nice lad. We're still mates now. Once our two teams had a football game and I played the fullback and Felix was the forward. He gave a shot and I defended, again and again, 'till the last minute - I'd say he's a really terrible player; I don't know what their coach was thinking to put him in the team. I mean, no one would ever attempt to shoot every time he gets the ball, just no one would. I could do much better than him in suit and tie and leather shoes -'

'Come off it, Shane.'

'So at last, of course, we won. I didn't really care about the result, but he did - very much, actually - 'cause Gill was there watching, and they were classmates. And Gill once told me about what Felix had done to her, and she said, "Is that called love? If that's love then everything's love! He's just a beast!" He really inherited his late father's possessions AND that possessive, violent and overbearing personality.'

'But after all, Gill's with you now.'

'Yeah. He won't ever get a girl's heart that way -'

'Muriel's an exception. Screw her.'

'Well, I think she's probably his accomplice or something.'

'Who knows. But just because Gill's with ME but not HIM, he's been hating me ever since.'

'I heard it!' It was Muriel shouting outside the door, 'You assholes!'

'If she says one more word, I can go out and kill her right here right now.'

'Calm down, Nicky. Killing her won't do no good to you.'

'What the fuck do you wanna say, Muriel?' Carl opened the door and questioned.

'It's just a girl! Felix won't do that just for a girl and a football game!'

'It's normal for him to do anything.' said Shane.

'But he's been so kind to me -'

'You're just his tool, bitch!'

'No, he's not that bad! He loves me, he said that!'

'Then I can also say that I love you and then take your face from your skull right here right now!' Scolded Nicky, 'His words mean NOTHING!'

'His not that bad is he!'

'He IS.'

'No! I don't believe it!'

'As you like. The fact is there.'

'What the hell is happening here?' Tommy came.

'Well, at first I was doubting this, but now I think it's clear.' Said Carl, 'First, it's Felix, and Muriel,' he turned to the desperate girl, 'there's your part in it, don't try to defend yourself. Second, this work is planned, and it's aiming at Shane more than anyone else here. And Nicky, you're probably in danger with him too.'

'So shall we do something?'

'Yes of course. I have a bit of plan too.'

So this plan was, early next morning, the criminal came to check his work, and he got a really surprising welcome.

At the same time, two young men were standing outside the rear door of the training hall in the woods.

'Well Levi, why's he's still in the building?'

'Or we've missed him?' Answered Levi calmly, 'He doesn't know we're waiting here. Maybe he's already left from the front door.'

'Then I hope he's still in there.'

'I hope he never gets out again.'

'Anyone listening?'

'Let them listen.'

'What if they learn something -'

'Oh, Eren, c'mon, whattaya doing now?'

'But I really don't wanna do this anymore...'

'You think I do? It's just - what else can we do?'

'I'm thinking about how to finish THIS mission this time...'

'We should've warned them to be careful. Maybe with them we can even stay alive for longer. Olga never trusts us.'

'I wonder where she installed the trackers.'

'Who knows. Maybe she's listening to us right now.'

'Then we can see God earlier. Good.'

'Anyway, we're getting eliminated soon. We know too much, don't we. Maybe it's the last mission.'

'God bless the boys. I think they ARE careful enough. But I don't know what to do next.'

Levi was silent for a while.

'Do you think he's still alive?' Eren asked, 'It's been an hour now.'

'I hope...' Levi shruggled.

'Me too.'

'But just wait for some more time. What if he's still there?'

'I hate this job.'

'If he's got any trouble that's gonna be all his fault. We've been watching here all the time.'

Eren looked down at the ground. Then he suddenly called, 'Levi?'

'Yeah?'

'I see what you wanna do.'

'I know that. But how?'

'If we don't see him by sunset, we'll go our way.'

'What if we do?'

'Then there's plan B. Remember that we've got plenty of time to be with him and we can get to know everything about what he's doing.'

'Can you recognise them well?'

'I hope they come tonight.'

'I don't think they will.'

'Who knows?'

'I think I still remember their faces.'

'I mean the two boys. The eldest one is too well-known to be missed.'

'Francis has sent me some photos he's taken in the car.'

'I do feel sorry for that night.'

Levi didn't respond.

The day was ending, and night finally came, and as they had hoped, Felix didn't show up. But still as they'd expected, others didn't come either.

'Oh Levi can we leave? It's getting dark. The old vixen will soon send some people to look for us.'

So thus, two engined hang gliders took off, chasing the last lingering glow of the setting sun. Luckily, Mrs.Rothenstein was so busy scolding Muriel and mouring her poor son that when she was reminded of Levi and Eren, heaven knew where they had already gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know who left the first kudo on this work. Thanks babe, I luv ye.  
> By the way, the ballroom dance I wrote about in this chapter, mainly in Part II, I ameliorated it after watching Burn The Floor at Beijing Exhibition Centre on 28 Nov 2015, which is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!  
> Main storyline begins from this chapter, here we go!


	3. Every Little Thing You Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicky moved out. Shane went to live with Kian, his high school classmate, and there was something growing silently between Kian and one of his neighbours...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be a slightly happier chapter, but probably kinda stupid I know that...This chapter is more related to Part II of the series rather than this Shnicky storyline. So just hope you enjoy(?) this stupid little chapter.

#### PART VIII

When all is said and done, sometimes, you need to walk alone.

\- Over And Out

* * *

'Shane?' One morning when leaving the dorm for breakfast, Nicky suddenly stopped.

'Yes?'

'I'm gonna move to a single room.'

Shane stood there in a daze, staring at him.

'I don't want to either, but you know what happened that night. So now Carl said we don't need to rehearse at nights and no longer in that training hall. We've rent another place nearby. But now the problem is that Éline and I need more time rehearsing than others, so sometimes she'll come, or sometimes I'll go to her place, and...we just don't wanna disturb you or something. I hope you understand.'

'Yeah, good, I understand.' Shane said, a fire burning deep inside which he didn't even know where from, 'I get it ALL, and you can move out, and don't worry about me 'cause I'm moving out too.' He threw the words there, and shut the door hard.

 

'Kane! Your call! Even I hear it!'

'Oh sorry...thank you Mrs Onions...And again I'm KIAN not KANE!'

'But just answer that call!'

Kian sighed, dropped the guitar on the bed and ran to the phone.

'Hey Shane! Can't believe it's you! How's Gill?'

'Gill's not here with me, you forgot that?'

'Oh...oh yes...but no...well...really, I don't know she's away...So where's she now?'

'C'mon, Kian, that's YOUR cousin, alright? She's back in Sligo!'

'Oh, yes, I remember. She told me last week. So what's up?'

'Look...Nicky moved out.'

'So you come to me?'

'Yeah. He's moved to a single room.'

'But why don't you just stay in that old room?'

'I don't feel like living with a new roommate.'

'Then you can ask for a single room too, like he did.'

'But he took the last one. I asked but they said there weren't single rooms left.'

'Poor kid.'

'Kian, I'm older than you.'

'So when are you coming?'

'Can I come now?'

'Well...if you like...but the house is a bit messy and it may not look that good...'

'It doesn't matter.' But this voice wasn't from the phone.

'Ah -' Kian turned around and found Shane behind him.

'Kane, what on earth are you doing?' The voice of an aged woman came from outside of the house.

'Who's that?' Shane asked.

Not getting an answer, the old lady continued, 'I hope the caller isn't fucking you now?'

Shane burst out laughing,' Oh Kian,' he squeezed out the words from the giggles, 'look at you! Who the hell is that?'

'Sorry ma'am!' Kian shouted back to the window, 'Just some big stupid spider came down the wall and fell off...And I say that again, I'm Kian, I'm not Kane!' Then he turned to Shane, 'And you, fuck off. That's my neighbour, Mrs Onions.'

But Mrs Onions didn't seem to want to stop here, 'Well, where's the difference!? By the way, I don't know you're afraid of spiders? Are there anything else you're not afraid of? You said you were frightened by a robin yesterday, and the morning before it was a pigeon, and previously there were naughty little kids, frogs, ants, bees, mosquitoes, and missed dates, spoiled ink, broken glass, and now it's a spider! Are you afraid of fish and chips, my young man?'

'Well...good rap that is...I'm sorry and would you please seal these old jokes into your candy jars, thank you?'

'Do you...' Shane finally recovered from the stomachache that too much laghing had just caused, 'do you just spend the day on these...these conversations?'

'Well, that's...she just kinda...nevermind. Just a British granny. But how did you come in?'

'You didn't close the door.'

'Oh shite.' Kian rushed towards the doorway.

'I closed it for ye.' Said Shane behind him.

'Ugh.' Kian rolled his eyes, 'Thanks. But can't you say things all at once?'

He only got a sneer from Shane. 'Where do I stay?'

'Wherever you want. Roof included.'

'Fuck off. But Ki...' Shane looked around and said, 'is it safe here?'

'What?'

'Are you robbed?'

'What?'

'I mean, is this place robbed or...broken into or something?'

'I don't get what you're talking 'bout.'

'I mean why's everything on the ground?'

'I told you not to come now. I haven't cleaned them up yet.'

'So where can I sleep?'

'Wait a moment.' Kian skipped over piles of papers, musical instruments, all kinds of boxes, and the chairs on the floor, and opened a white door to a room. Shane didn't even notice that door, for all other doors were wood-colour. A few minutes later, Kian got out with a heap of stuffs and threw them onto the sofa, and showed Shane the way to the room - or more exactly, how to skillfullly skip over the things on the floor the most safely and timesavingly and get access to the door.

'Holy shit! Do you just like white this much? I would need sunglasses here.'

'I've got a pair of Prada if you'd like them.'

'It's like a sickroom, Kian.'

'Shut up. It's my bedroom.' Kian glared at him, 'And it's the only room that I think is tidy enough.'

'But where do you stay then?'

'In the sofa.'

'What about the things?'

'Well...floor, balcony, kitchen...lavatory - wherever no one sleeps.'

'You mean you put your guitars in the toilet? Or the piano?'

'Use the word "lavatory". And yeah, guitars sometimes...The piano's behind you, you didn't see it?'

'What...I didn't, really. And Kian, you don't have to make everything white, you know.'

'Not yet EVERYTHING -'

'Hey Kiiiiiiiiiiian!' The door suddenly opened, and a tall blond guy broke in, 'See what - well...I'm sorry if I...'

'No, no, no, not at all. Come in if you want.' Kian smiled brightly, 'It's my friend Shane. We were high school classmates. And his girlfriend is my cousin, you know, Gill.'

'Oh, so YOU're Shane Filan! Hi, I'm Brian.'

'Whattaya come here for?' Asked Kian.

'Nothing. I just wanna come.'

'Then wait a moment, I'll put these boxes away.'

During the few minutes when Kian was busy cleaning out some space, Brian came up with an idea. He took Shane to the balcony to discuss this product of his over-creative head, and it was sure gonna make a big splash in Kian's life. Brian didn't stay for long, and Shane kept thinking about what Brian told him on the balcony. Soon, however, it reminded him of Nicky. What Nicky explained to him was so reasonable, but Shane had a feeling inside that it wasn't what he really meant. The anger was almost gone, and now he started doubting everything that happened recently. The ballroom dance. It was what that had brought all the trouble. The drunks, the car, the powder, everthing. And now Nicky moved away. He didn't know what would happen next. Anyway, if he really carry out that 'plan' Brian had told him, it would be fun.

This room was rather bright with most things white. Shane closed his eyes. In the darkness, there's always another sky.

 

#### PART IX

Soledad, it's a keeping for the lonely, since the day that you were gone. Why did you leave me, soledad?

\- Soledad

* * *

'Shane! Wake up! Don't forget your morning lectures!'

Shane didn't answer. He heard the door be locked - Kian has gone out.

'Don't forget your morning lectures.' That morning, someone else said the same. He got up, and looked around. The room was so bright in white.

What Brian wanted him to do was easy, and he finished it soon. He then paid a short visit to Brian as promised. It's truely a great plan, and he waited patiently to see Kian's reaction.

Yet he couldn't help thinking of someone - that certain 'someone'. He didn't feel like going to the lecture. He was afraid of coming across him in the hallway. What would he say when their eyes met? He was way too used to waking up every morning and see a silhouette by the window that now, facing the sunlight shining in, he felt somehow lost. He chose to stay here and skip the lectures. He'd never done that before. In this house which may be called home for now, neat white walls around, he just felt better. And he used to hate being alone, but at this moment, he found himself some sort of enjoying the loneness. Of course, he wanted to see Nicky again, but he couldn't imagine what would happen when they met. The walls between the two dorms had in a way formed a wall between them.

Shane turned around, and saw the white piano. It's a parlor grand, rather big for this bedroom, but was really carefully kept, and the azur blue cover cloth was so clean. The shafts were already a bit loose, and the surfaces of the keys yellow from being touched so many times, but the sound and touch were still perfect. He pulled out the bench and sat down. Music may help him get rid of the feelings. He didn't know. But he naturally started playing THAT song - it was HIS favourite. He remembered his voice when more than once he sang along to the melody played on the piano, and it was like that voice was made for the song. It may be just wrong to keep himself thinking about him any more, but he didn't and couldn't forget.

And all day long, Brian has been listening to all the beautiful music coming from his neighbour's house - beautiful love songs. He didn't sleep much that day but kept listening to the music. He's satisfied that Shane did what he asked, and now there's free concert. He waited for Kian to come back.

The clock stroke nineteen. And this romantic atmosphere Shane had created with the music was soon ruined.

'GHOST -' From far away, Brian heard that crazy kid cried. He looked out of the window, and found Kian rushing straight into his house.

'Who's there! Get out! Now!' Kian shouted in a funnily low voice, something that would remind you of 'I'm Dracula it's Halloween trick or treat'.

'Ki, it's me. Calm yourself down.' Answered Shane behind the white door.

'Shane?' Kian pushed the door open, 'I thought you hadn't come back yet.'

'I...I didn't go today.'

'It's not good -' But he cut the words, capturing the expression on Shane's face. He paused a while, and continued, 'Look, I know it troubles you a lot. I know you doubt whether you really know what's going on - or whether what you think is going on is really what is going on. But think about it, have you ever reacted like this for a friend's -'

'He's different, Kian, you don't get it. He's not just...he's more than just a FRIEND.'

'I know he's not. I know you've got a special something.' Kian paused, 'But that's not a reason you skip school, Shane. I don't mean to sound like those teachers or parents, but...if he didn't mean it, and he's not, say, giving up on you, then there's nothing to worry about; and if as you fear, he meant it and he's leaving for whatever reason, then you don't need to hold on to him any more. You get that?'

Shane didn't answer.

Kian quietly went out, and closed the door.

 

#### PART X

Morning, just another day. Happy people passed my way.

\- Mandy

* * *

'Ah -'

'What the fuck are ye doing, Ki? It's midnight!'

'No, nothing...I'm sorry.'

The next night.

'Ouch! My head!'

'What...AH -'

'Kian! I warn you, if you fucking shout this fucking loud at midnight once more I'll fucking skin you!'

'Alright, alright...Calm down, Shane...Look, I'm sorry, okay -'

'But wait, Kian, who's -'

'Shut up and go back to sleep. You've got lectures tomorrow.'

'But who's talking there just now -'

'I told you to shut up!'

'So there's something between you and someone.'

'Shut. Up.'

'Got it.'

'Fuck ya.'

The next afternoon, Shane's phone rang.

'Yeah?

'What - You're not coming back?

'Oh shite. I hate cooking.

'Alright, alright.

'Yeah. Okay. Bye.'

Kian was away that night. Shane thought that he knew where he'd gone, and it was sort of proved correct the next evening when Kian finally came back at around 19:00.

'Kian, where - Wait, do you know that you've done the buttons wrong?' Shane stared at his messed-up shirt, 'I haven't made this kind of stupid mistake since 3.'

'Shut your face.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, if you don't understand what this part is about...just leave it there it's not really important to the Shnicky storyline; it's part of the second part of this series, the BK storyline. I actually thought about deleting this chapter or deleting Part X...but I didn't. That little part is in fact a funny one. Maybe I made it much less funny. Yeah.


	4. Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Was it all a lie? Who on earth was behind all of this? Or had he just got it all wrong from the beginning?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's one of my favourite chapters...But I'm finding it having something in common with my other Mormor work called _[Crystal Globe](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5343728)_...Anyway there's gonna be something brilliant about Nico in this chapter, and I'd been working on that little part for long, so hope you like it...

#### PART XI

A little hope goes up in smoke. Just how it goes, goes without saying.

\- Solitaire

* * *

Shane finally went back to college. His friends didn't change, the profs were still asking for his homework and he still hadn't got much to hand in, but things were somehow different.

For days, he hadn't seen the person he has been wanting and avoiding to see. He found it strange.

'Hello?' He randomly picked a single dorm and knocked on the door.

'Yeah?' A smiling boy opened the door. He looked friendly, but was really overweight, 'You come in?'

'Oh, no, thanks. I'm just looking for someone. You know a guy called Nicky Byrne?'

'Sorry? Who?'

'Nicholas Byrne.'

'You mean that lad who's got the first prize in that Geography contest?'

'Uh, yes. You know where he is?'

'No, sorry. I've never met him in the flesh.'

'But didn't he just moved in?'

'What? Who told you that?'

'He said it himself!'

'Come off it, he must be joking!' But seeing the expression on Shane's face, the boy put on a serious look and added, 'Look, bud, I don't know why he said that, but as far as I know, there's never ever been an empty single room here since we were here. If anyone moves in or moves out, we're definitely gonna party, you know; it's kind of a tradition, 'cause it's quite a big thing.'

'Then what did he mean...' Shane whispered to himself.

'Well, we don't have anyone with this name here, but we do have another guy called Nicholas O'Ryan. You're sure you're not looking for him?'

'No, no, not him. It's Nicholas Byrne for sure, and we usually call him Nicky.'

'Then I've no idea where he is. I'm sorry.'

'It's okay. Thank you all the same.'

Shane didn't know how he finished the day and got back home. He kept telling himself it couldn't be true, that Nicky must have been there, but the boy's words echoed in his mind non-stop.

_I've never met him in the flesh._

_Come off it, he must be joking!_

_I don't know why he said that._

_We don't have anyone with this name here._

_Then I've no idea where he is._

_I've no idea where he is._

I've no idea where he is.

All hope turned into smoke, all in a sudden. He thought Nicky was just busy, but now he started to doubt even the slightest possibility that he'd told him the truth. He didn't want to, still he wished it wasn't like this, but the proof was there - or only if that boy was lying too.

'But either way, it's a trick from the beginning!'

'Shane?' Kian walked over, 'Is everything okay?' Of course not, he told himself.

'It's a lie. It's all been a lie.'

'What happened?'

'You won't get it.' Shane threw himself onto the bed, 'He's a liar.'

'What lie? He's - What do you mean? What's going on? Shane, you gotta let me know!'

Shane let out a heavy sigh. He didn't even know where to begin. Kian didn't understand what situation he was in, he decided. If not that they were friends since high school. he's scolded him to stop asking and go away. 'He's a liar.' After almost half a minute of silence, he broke off, 'The ballroom, the single dorm - they're just his excuses! He's just seeking for a way to leave, he's just -'

'But why?' Kian cut his words, 'Calm yourself. Why is he leaving?'

Shane looked up, 'I don't know.'

'You went to find him?'

'Yeah, and he's not in the whatever fucking single dorm! He never was!'

'The old one -'

'No, he's not there. Someone else is in now. I don't really know them.'

'So you mean he's -'

'I've looked for him everywhere I could think of and he just wasn't there. I don't even think...I don't even think he's still in the college.'

'Maybe he's just gone to the training hall or something.'

'Then how do you explain the single dorm thing? I asked a guy there and he said there ain't ever been any empty single room.' Shane took a deep breath, 'I tell you, Kian, he's just NOT IN THE COLLEGE. Believe me, I've asked my friends and his friends and the professors and they hadn't seen him for days. I just didn't go ask the principle.'

'Have you asked the ballroom dancers?'

'I've called Carl - the director - and his phone was off. I don't have others' numbers.'

Kian frowned, 'Then what do all these posters mean? It's said that the ballroom would premier soon in...in some theatre, I forgot.'

'He's just gone! He's -'

'No, Shane. Don't be emotional. I think you should call the police. It's getting a bit complicated.'

'No. I'm not sure if involving the Gardaí will do more good than bad - Whattaya mean "complicated"?'

'I don't deny that he lied to you. But I don't think it's just an excuse to get away.'

'Then what is it?'

'You just...It's not like an excuse for...say, an excuse for being late or for a day off or something. It's...I don't know how to explain it, but it's not a simple excuse.'

'You mean he's got a bigger plan behind it and it's just step one?'

'Come on, Shane! Would you just stop thinking that he's cheating on you?'

'Then what has he been doing?'

'You just - I'm just telling you that this may not be that simple. You don't even know why he's leaving or where he's going. And no one in the whole college knows where he's been these days. They just know he's gone. So that means he hasn't told anyone about that whatsoever fucking "plan" you were talking about. And the ballroom dance - the whole cast and crew disappeared, and I guess it won't premier ever. If he has been cheating, then he hasn't only been cheating on you. He's been cheating on everyone. And okay, maybe we can call that a plan.'

Shane looked out of the window. Sunset - it was the most magical time of a day. The lingering glow was so bright that he could only see a black outline of the world. The sunlight dazzled his eyes. He closed them.

 

#### PART XII 

I try to read, I go to work, I'm laughing with my friends.

\- My Love

* * *

'Hey, Shorty! Yer back!' When Shane entered the studio, one of his bandmates shouted.

The studio was in fact just an empty music room with lots of instruments. Students were encouraged to do music, and bands were certainly given even more support, as long as they didn't break the roof.

'Well, you've got taller after these days off.'

'Shut up, Graham.'

'But you know what, Shane, we're gonna sing at the Chrismas Party! In front of all the people in college!'

'Yer kidding?'

'No, I'm serious! Mr Crabtree called me into his office that day and said, "Oi heard dgatch you gotch 'ome bánd, ándger qoite gud,"' Graham mocked his strong accent, trying not to fall off laughing, '"ándgoim here t'tchell you sumptin'. " At first I thought, Oh no, did we do something wrong again? But then he told me about this, and I was like, Oh no, do you mean it? But it's true! Mrs Rice talked about it with me again yesterday!'

'Hey guys, you know that new song just released in May called...called...ugh, shite, what's it called?'

'In May?'

'Yeah. By Bob something, I remember. It's good.'

' _Butterfly Kisses_? By Bob Carlisle?'

'Yeah, that's it. I LOVE that song.'

'Yeah, it's beautiful.'

' _Butterfly Kisses_?' Shane asked as if just woke up, 'No.'

'Why? It's a great song, and it's new!'

'Yeah, but that's not at all a Christmas song.'

'But there's no rule that we have to do Christmas songs at the Christmas Party. We can do some Christmas classics and then do this one. It's gonna be great, Shane, c'mon!'

'I'd prefer _Uptown Girl_ or _When Will I Be Famous_ or something like that. _Butterfly Kisses_ is just too quiet.'

'Well, that's true though.'

'And then we can do _Feliz Navidad_. They've never done this song before at the Christmas Party.'

'That's not a bad idea.'

'And guys, why can't we just write one and sing it? That's gonna be super cool and it's gonna make headlines on the college paper!'

'Yeah, you got a point there.'

Singing and all kinds of noises filled the music room. These guys would never know why Shane refused to sing _Butterfly Kisses_. Yeah it's not a Christmas song, and yeah it's too quiet for big gigs, but there's another reason behind this, and he didn't wanna speak out. He just wanted to enjoy this Christmas.

 

#### PART XIII

Like a sunrise. Like a rainfall.

\- Evergreen

* * *

'SHANE! SHANE! SHANE -'

'OH MY GOOD LORD! Kane, what are you doing again!? You ruined my afternoon tea!'

'I'm terribly sorry, ma'am! But SHANE, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YE!?'

'Yeah, I'm coming -' Shane got out of the lavatory, 'I never knew you could speak so loud, Kian.'

'Fuck off. Your call here, and just don't throw your clothes everywhere. Not all over the phone, at least.'

'Alright, I'm sorry.' Shane took over the phone Kian just digged out under a pile of clothes, 'But don't you just throw everything everywhere.' He answered, leaning back against the wall.

'Hello?'

'Guess who I am, Shorty.'

'Hello, Mr John Smith.'

'Oh, c'mon! Guess who I am.'

'Oh, I'm sorry, did I just get your name wrong, Mr Jack Smith?'

'I'm Mr Crabtree!'

'No doofus will believe that, Derrick, come off it! Mr Crabtree won't call himself Mr Crabtree.'

'You're so boring, Shorty. Anyway, how's your weekend?'

'Not too bad. And you?'

'I'm good. So are you free this evening?'

'Yeah, I think so. Why?'

'8 o'clock at Racecourse Inn?'

'Yeah - No, why there?'

'Why not?'

'That's too far from where I stay now.'

'Then you decide.'

'What about...just The Viscount Lounge?'

'Yeah, okay. You mean that one off Swords Rd?'

'Yeah.'

'So see ya there at 8:00.'

'Yeah, see ya.'

Shane put the phone down and returned to the bedroom. He looked outside. It's not yet cold in late October. They had nearly 8 weeks to get ready for the show, and he'd been practising the songs for a week. They still had something to discuss on the original song. It's 4:00pm, and The Viscount wasn't far - though The Racecourse wasn't far either. He could stay till 7:30. Kian was playing rock songs outside, and Shane chose to focus on the plan of their gig and try to ignore the noise outside.

When it got darker, Shane took the sheet music and went out. Kian was still there loudly playing some Metallica stuffs. Shane skipped over heaps of papers, clothes and boxes, put on a coat and opened the door.

'Ki! Don't wait me for dinner!'

Shane shut the door, not really caring whether Kian heard him or not. The moment he closed the door and got rid of the noise of the electric guitar, it became so quiet that Shane found it a bit wierd. He wanted someone to talk to, but there's no one by his side. Gill was still in Sligo, and she was spending the whole Christmas there.

The night of Dublin was amazing. November was near, and Christmas lights would soon be on. The pubs and clubs were getting crowded, and all kinds of people were on the street, wearing all kinds of clothes. He walked alone down the road.

Within half an hour, he got to The Viscount, but he didn't see a single bandmate. He got himself a Viscount Charger, found a seat, and called Derrick.

Then he waited, the sheet music on the table, shifting his eyes between these paper and the people coming in.

It was a quiet corner where he was sitting, and part of the reason why he chose this place was the person sitting beside his table. It was a girl silently reading a book alone. Shane didn't know how long she'd been here, but it seemed like she was completely in another world of her own. There was a band playing, but not really loud. This girl didn't seem to have noticed him. She was in a long black topcoat and a black top hat with pearl night blue hatband - he loved that colour. In the dim light, her light complexion and blond hair were glowing against the black dress. And she had some kind of fragrance around her.

Shane hadn't realised that he'd been staring at her until she suddenly moved her eyes away from the pages and took a brief glance at him. He soon turned away, ashamed, when her eyes hit him.  But he couldn't stop thinking about these eyes - the fascinating water blue colour, and they had that mysterious charm, and recalled him of HIS eyes. Those eyes he used to see every morning he woke up. He wasn't even aware that the girl took another look at him while he was thinking about all these. When he looked back at her, she casted an elegant glance at him and smiled with a slight tinge of melancholy. Then she turned away, picked up the book and quickly left, leaving the fragrant breeze behind the hem of her long coat. Shane recognised this fragrance. _CK Eternity_. But that's a perfume for men - he didn't know, maybe it was what her boyfriend wore.

Her black figure soon disappeared in the crowd.

The lining of her coat was blue, that same colour named pearl night blue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe I'm just too addicted to colours...All colours mentioned in all my works can be found in RAL K5 CLASSIC 'cause that's what I'm currently using to find the right colours...And I LOVE PEARL NIGHT BLUE it's RAL 5026. The next chapter will be something happening on the other side of this battlefield so I updated all the storied before that in these 3 days during which we didn't have to (weren't allowed actually) go to school because of #PekingSuperSmog. Hope you enjoyed it! (Actually I think maybe I'm ruining this great storyline...I'm sorry...like, really sorry. Ha.)


	5. Don't Calm The Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the other side of the crime, what was the plan? Who was behind this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set the time back to when they started rehearsing to read this chapter, 'cause it's about the criminals. In this chapter many of the clues will be clear, but I still leave some for the following chapters and part II of the series. It's a story between a bunch of stupid psychos so maybe the conversations are a bit stupid too...Anyway, hope you still enjoy(?) it.

#### PART XIV

Oh fear, live by your side.

\- Where We Are

* * *

'Mr Carl Calverly, right?' A flirtatious young woman entered the rehearsal room.

'Yes, Madam.'

'You're prettier than your pictures.' The woman raised an eyebrow. Then she withdrew her smile on one side of her lips and went, 'One of your dancers,' she glanced at the girls in the room, approaching them slowly like a queen, 'I'm Felix Rothenstein's mother, and I heard that one of your dancers seems to be quite fond of my son.'

'Yes, I think we have this girl.'

'I'd like meet her.'

'Muriel, Mrs Rothenstein wants you.'

'What?' Muriel exclaimed excitedly, 'Mrs Rothenstein, oh!'

'Well, my girl,' Mrs Rothenstein took her by the hand and went out of room, 'may you please do a favour for my son Felix?'

'Oh, yes, of course, Ma'am. Anything you like. It's my pleasure.'

'Very good. So tell me - Felix told me last evening that Carl's gonna get another dancer to replace him; is it true?'

'Yes, Ma'am. Mr Calverly told us after Felix had left, but I told him about it. Mr Calverly said that he was afraid that Felix might quit 'cause of the pay - not high, you know that - so he wanna find a substitute.'

'Then do you know who this subtitute is?'

'Well, I heard Mr Calverly called someone later yesterday and he asked, "Is it Nicholas Byrne?" I told Felix about this too.'

'Good girl you are! So that Nicholas, he'll come tonight, right?'

'Yes.'

'Would you please remember what he looks like and describe it to Felix?'

'Okay, Ma'am.'

'Good. Keep in mind that I need details. And as a reward, I can help get your name into the hall of fame. I suppose that's good enough?'

'Oh my, that's more than good! I don't know how to express my gratitude, Ma'am!'

That night, as expected, Nicky came. He didn't really care about her stare or something, for he got a lot of that at school too, from both girls and boys.

'I got a great chance to look at him up and down from inch to inch, 'cause everyone was fixing their eyes steadily on him, so he didn't notice me!' Muriel told Mrs Rothenstein after the over-night rehearsals.

'So as you've just said,' Mrs Rothenstein said slowly, 'this Nicky Byrne has some relation with the person we're looking for.'

'Who is it?'

'Shane Steven Filan. He was Felix's rival in love with Gillian Walsh, and in the end, damn it,' the woman gnashed her teeth in hatred, 'he got the girl and made her hate Felix now.'

'So we're gonna get him and -'

'Kill him.'

'Oh!' The emotionlessness in her words made Muriel tremble slightly, 'Um...maybe we don't need to be this...decisive?'

'What do you mean?' Mrs Rothenstein turned to her.

'I mean...I mean, maybe we can torture him for a while before killing?' She observed the slightest changes on the lady's face. She attempted to change the topic, 'But what's Nicky doing there?'

'They're very close, Nicky and Shane. So if we put Nicky in danger, Shane will certainly be there for him, and there comes our good times.'

'Put him in danger...but we can't put him to death for sure. That's difficult!'

'I have a plan. Do you know his route to the training hall?'

'No, but I know he's alone. I can follow him if necessary.'

'No need to. By motorbike. He goes around by motorbike.'

'So what?'

'Don't talk to me like that!' Mrs Rothenstein poked her on the forehead with her long-nailed index finger, 'Listen. I already know which route he takes. We can send some of our people to play football in the streets and pretend that they're drunk, and hit Nicky with the ball.'

'But what if the ball doesn't hit him?'

'It doesn't matter, 'cause our purpose is to distract him, not to really hurt him - although if we hurt him a bit it's gonna be more convincing - and Shane will be worried and he'll come along.'

'Good. What's next?'

'We may see him tomorrow night if we carry out our plan the coming night -'

'And we can see his body the following morning!'

'No, no, no, we mustn't kill him immediately. We have to wait, to first get to know them, so we can kill them in a better way.'

'You mean -'

'Don't make mistakes. You know that if once we do anything wrong - even just a tiny bit - we fail.'

'So my next mission is to remember Shane's look and tell Felix?'

'Exactly, my clever girl. And also, think about how to get a chance to take Shane's life in the rehearsal room. I don't want his body to be found too soon.'

'Well...I think we can ask Felix...'

'You'll do as I said, will you?'

'Yes, of course, Ma'am.'

'So I'll go get some lads. And when he leaves the training hall, call me.'

As promised, Muriel made up an excuse to use the telephone box when their rehearsal came to an end that night and called Mrs Rothenstein.

On the street outside, Mrs Rothenstein was waiting in the dark woods beside the road with her people ready to kick that ball. And now, Mr Calverly knew nothing at all.

'Go ahead, boys!' Ordered Mrs Rothenstein after she got Muriel's call, 'Go out and play and exert all your strength to goal - but no, be a bit more careful with the shot, 'cause he should not die now yet.'

The little gang of young men wandered out of the woods. The street was dark, but it didn't really matter, because all they've gotta do was to act like a bunch of drunks, and darkness just fitted the scene. As they spotted a single light coming close, one of them took the ball and directed it towards the motorbike. The ball hit Nicky quite well, and he was knocked off the motorbike and fell onto the ground several metres away.

The gang stayed in the streets for some more time in order not to get suspected. To their surprise, the rider struggled up from the ground, slowly walked to check the motorbike, and made a rather professional move to kicked the ball back to them. Being sure the motorbike was out of sight and would not come back, the lads returned to where they were previously hiding. Mrs Rothenstein was satistfied with this. 'Tomorrow,' said she, 'tomorrow, our lovely guest is coming.'

Muriel joined them just a short while ago, and in her mind she was plannning what to do during the next rehearsal. 'So I'm gonna -'

'Yes, Muriel.' The woman impatiently cut her words, 'Just behave like your normal self and don't get any extra attention, and you'll complete your mission perfectly.'

Shane was with Nicky the following night. But things seemed to be going out of its way for Mrs Rothenstein.

'Mrs Rothenstein,' Muriel called her after the rehearsal, 'bad news, Ma'am, bad news! Mr Calverly drives them home.'

'What! Damn Carl Calverly.' The woman paused, 'Anyway, we have to come up with a way to send Shane to hell - any way. Just need a Plan B.'

'Muriel?' Felix came, 'Whattaya doing here? Who's that?'

'Oh, my baby, glad you're here.' The girl put the phone aside, 'We've got some problem now.'

'Shane's done sonething?'

'No. But Carl accompanies them on the way now. What should we do?'

'It's easy. Just arrange a car accident.'

'Our people will get hurt.'

'They aren't yet that stupid. They'll be back safe and sound.'

'Then you mean we drive a car and hit Carl?'

'No, no. WE won't hit them. We should let the boys play drunks again, and get closer to Carl's car, and when Carl has nowhere to go, he'll hit a tree or something himself. So we can simply go away.'

'You're finally saying something useful, Felix.' Mrs Rothenstein said in the phone, 'So who's gonna drive the car this time?'

'Zane Coke, my driver. He'll be free.'

'Then everything's on Zane. You should tell him exactly what to do and make sure he doesn't make any mistake, get it?'

'Yes, Mam.'

That night, this poor Mr Coke went on the road and wandered around for about an hour before seeing Carl's car. He got closer and lit a cigarette, held it in his right hand and reached it out of the window. The road was almost empty and it wasn't difficult to chase Carl around. Then Carl glanced at him, and Zane saw him said something, but he couldn't hear a word. Carl seemed to have recognised him. He sped up, and Zane sped up too. He slowed down, and Zane slowed down too. He was pretty sure that he had turned the alarm on, and has begun to worry about what to say to Felix, and most of all, Mr Rothenstein. Then suddenly, Carl started moving fast backwards. Zane didn't follow this time, but drove away. Time to pray for his own safety now.

'Felix, my dear master,' Zane eventually made the call on the way back, 'I'm terribly sorry, but I'm afraid they'd recognised me.'

'Fuck Carl! How could he have ever seen you!?'

'Don't be down, honey.' Mrs Rothenstein's voice appeared on the other side, 'I've got an idea - a PERFECT one. I mean it.'

Talk to you later.' Felix hung up and looked at his mother, 'What do you have again in your old head?'

'C'mon, my boy. Do you still remember this?' She took out a tiny glass jar with some white powder in it.

It took Felix a while to recall what the powder was. After staring at it for a few seconds, he suddenly looked up at his mother and exclaimed, 'Oh Mam, you're a genius! Why hadn't I thought about this!'

'What's that, Ma'am?' Muriel, who had been staying in the Rothenstein Manor since taking on Mrs Rothenstein's mission, heard them talking and came downstairs, fixing her eyes on the powder.

'You don't know it, darling. And you don't have to - at least not now. Felix will tell you about it later. This thing is magic. Pure magic. Now my plan is - You have candles, right?' The woman looked her way.

'Yes. We're just starting using them tomorrow. Ten in total.'

'Good. Very good.' Mrs Rothenstein remarked, 'So you'll hide this powder in the wicks -'

'And they'll light it -' Felix took it up, his handsome face lighting up, 'beautiful, Mam, beautiful!'

'But you know,' interrupted Muriel, 'I mean - how can I get out? It seems like you mean that it can kill people when it's lit.'

'Don't worry. See, you can arrive late - really late - and find whatever excuse for that, such as your car breaks down or something, 'cause when you get there, everyone's on the edge of death and no one will care why you're late.'

'Yeah, that's right. Nicky's got no much time left to practise all the dance routines, so they'll certainly rehearse while waiting for you.'

'But Ma'am, can I take some other dancers in that "broken car"? I don't want them to die. They don't deserve it.'

'That doesn't matter; it's up to you, as long as you can manage. Our target is Shane Filan.' Mrs Rothenstein smiled, 'Felix, you're gonna put the powder on the candles after the rehearsal, can you do that? Look for a good chance where no one knows what you're doing.'

'Is it okay that,' said Felix, 'we stay there a bit longer and just say that we wanna practise for some part, and when Carl leaves -'

'Arrange that yourself.' Mrs Rothenstein cut his words impatiently and handed him the glass jar.

That day was a nice one. Things were running just right. Muriel invited all other dancers for dinner and their car ran out of gas. So they eventually pushed the car to the garage and walked to the training hall, successfully getting there as late as they could ever imagine.

'Oh, we're so sorry.' Said Muriel when they finally got to the place, out of breath. But her heart just sank immediately when she saw Nicky and Shane there with Carl, all the three of them alive and clear-minded.

She pretended that she knew nothing about it.

Until that Carl borrowed Roberto Vegaz's props room, and she knew that it would be dangerous to go on - but she couldn't quit the plan either. She didn't know what could happen if she did. She had doubtlessly seen the dark side of Mrs Rothenstein, and she had begun to regret having accepted the conditions. But on the other hand, she loved Felix, and that feeling was so true, despite all the imperfections in him. She knew she could just kill herself at the end of the road, but she was not yet brave enough to face that. In fact, from the very beginning, she knew what she - and Felix, and Mrs Rothenstein - was doing was wrong. She felt that this plan wasn't supposed to be brought to practise, and that it had some serious problems within, even though she couldn't even name them; she just knew. Yet having gone so far, she was also clearly aware that there was hardly a way back.

'He- they - Carl, Nicky and Shane - they found the powder!' Muriel told Mrs Rothenstein after coming back the early next morning, 'And what's worse, Nicky knows what the powder is! He seems to know a lot about the Devil's Foot root and Carl had a plan to eliminate us, Ma'am! We've just missed one thing!'

'Damn Nicholas Byrne! He's ruined the whole story!' Mrs Rothenstein roared, 'But how could they ever know it was Felix -'

'Shane and Felix already have some issues in each other, and they said that the only person who could afford this expensive drug and had access to the candles was no one but him - But you should listen to Carl's plan, Ma'am!'

'You just let them did this fucking deduction and drew the conclusion that it was Felix?'

'No - yes, of course I tried to explain things the other way, but they didn't listen to me! Nicky even beated me up -'

'Rubbish! What's Carl's plan?'

'Carl went into our rehearsal room and lit the candles and left the door closed but not locked. Then all the dancers hid in the cabinets and have been waiting for Felix to arrive, but I managed to get out and rushed back -'

'But Felix had set off!'

'No!' Shouted Muriel, her eyes wide open.

The woman didn't answer. The echo of Muriel's heartbreaking cry lingered in the empty mansion. For the first time, Mrs Rothenstein was quiet for a good minute before breaking off, 'He was really excited this morning and wentout very early, my poor son...' Mrs Rothenstein sighed with a look in her eyes that was even close to loving - but this look just flashed and was soon gone, 'And why didn't you stop the plan? You tried to but they didn't listen to you?'

'I couldn't! They were already suspecting my for taking part in this and I just thought if I got back early I could still stop Felix from going there but -'

'Bullshit! Rubbish!' Mrs Rothenstein's tone was back to normal, 'Just tell me what they're gonna do to Felix! I've gotta first kill Nicholas, and then you!'

'But Shane, Ma'am -'

'That's none of your business! What do I ask you to tell me? Carl's plan is more than just waiting him to show up, I believe?'

'Carl said they'd jump out of the cabinets as soon as Felix got there, and they'd break his gas mask and push him into the rehearsal room, lock the door, and seal the room -'

'Enough! Allen, Francis, take her to the cellar!'

Two boys at the age of around 18 soon arrived, both of them armed.

'No, Ma'am, please! No!' The girl cried desperately.

'Shut up, or I'll skin you right here right now!'

'But Ma'am, please! I can do anything for you! Just leave me alive! Please!...' Her broken voice faded out. Muriel was taken to the cellar, and the cellar was where people were gaoled and eventually killed.

'Allen, Francis.' Called Mrs Rothenstein after the boys returned. She finally calmed down a little.

'Yes, Ma'am.'

'Go to the training hall and bring Levi and Eren back. And get all the dancers and the director Carl Calverly and take them all to the cellar.' Ordered Mrs Rothenstein, 'I'll take all of their lives myself! But Nicholas Byrne first! Remember, boys, remember to take Nicholas Byrne back!'

'Yes, Ma'am.'

 

'Do you think he's still alive, as that girl said?' Allen asked on their way to the hall.

'How can he be?' Francis sneered.

'So what should we do with those people? Olga will make us into sauce if we don't complete the mission.'

'I don't wanna see them killed. They're innocent - I mean, they killed Felix, but he deserved it. He put the powders on the candles first.'

'Wait a moment. Levi's call.'

'Hey Allen, it's Levi.' Said a somehow joyful voice over the headphones, 'I know Olga's gonna send someone to find us. I'm just calling to tell you that we're already on our way to New Ireland on the gliders. You just tell her we were found and killed with Felix and take other people back. Remember to keep them alive.'

'Yeah, of course.'

'We're gonna help Shane and Nicky out. I do think that we're safer with THEM rather than with that old bitch, you know that. Nicky had aleady left Shane, and now Shane's living with a guy called Kian Egan. They were old friends. I guess Nicky's leaving the island from St George's Channel. You can try to locate them and keep watch on Shane and take Nicky to us.'

'What to do with Carl and the crew?'

'You tell Olga that they should be treated as cruel as possible before getting killed and say that you're taking them to wherever terrible you can think about -'

'And free them on the way. I get this. But where exactly? We can't go too far.'

'Just put them at the foot of the Cliff of -'

'Look, Levi, I get your point, but if we say that we're killing them ourselves, she'll doubt. She said she wanna take their lives herself. And she has trackers on us.'

'Then just leave them in the centre of the Irish Sea.'

'No, you still don't understand what I'm saying - but okay, I'll try. If they're going the right way I think they can get back on the ground before they run out of supplies.'

'Yeah. Keep them alive. And I know you mean Olga wanna see them die in front of her, of course I do. Just use your cute innocent face and sweet words to fool her! It's easy. Sing her a song if those doesn't work.'

'It's serious, Levi, stop kidding. And I'm no singer, unlike you.' Allen rolled his eyes, 'But how do you get to New Ireland?'

'Ah, yes, haven't told you yet - you know where're the trackers?'

'No. Where?'

'There're two on each of us. One is in the waistband of our briefs -'

'Our what?'

'Briefs.'

'Alright.' Allen frowned and gave that a laugh, 'Go ahead.'

'Another one is in the washing powder she uses for us. It's liquid tracker.'

'So you took the clothes off?'

'Yeah. We bought some in advance, so don't think that we're naked.'

Allen sneered, 'Go on.'

'We took our stuffs out and dressed like backpackers, and used the engined gliders to get to the island.'

'No, I mean which route you're taking. You're crossing half of the earth.'

'It's easy, you see - and you can follow this route to take Nicky to us - we started off from Dublin and flew to Rosslare Europort that night. Then we crossed St George's Channel and arrived at Milford Haven.'

'You mean you only travel at nights?'

'Not really. Whenever we're ready, but backpackers spend the day sightseeing, don't they. Then we're going to Bude, then Torquay, and then we're crossing La Manche - or if you call it the English Channel - to Anderville in France, and we'll cross Channel Islands to Paimpol, Belle Île, Les Sables-d'Olonne, Lacanau, Revel, Port St Lucie, Piana, Lido di Ostia, Pisciotta, Gagliano del Capo, Vonista, Karistos, the Island of Kos, Kas, Gazipaşa, Samra -'

'You're gonna cross -'

'Yeah, it's the fastest way, though it's the most dangerous part after the Channel. From Samra, we're going to Palmyra, Qa'im, Buhayrat ar Razazah, Shatrah, Faw, Ameri Port, Bandar Kong, Kūhestak, Tang, Pasni, Karachi, Bhuj, Ratlam, Jabalpur, Ranchi, Jessore, Cox's Bazar, Dalet, Kyeintali, Thongwa, Natkyizin, Mergui, Nangin, Phuket, Satun, Teluk Intan,Dumai, Tembilahan, Sungsang, Kendawangan -'

'Stop, Levi! Yer fucking mad. Yer gonna fly over Java Sea?'

'Yep, why not? And from Kendawangan it won't be too long to go. We'll be going to Tanahgrogot, then Makale -'

'You'll die on Makassar Strait. You will. No one is so stupid to fly a hang glider to cross two channels.'

'Then it would take a lot more time. I can manage that, you just need to believe me.'

'So where are you going from Makale, if you're still alive? You're not gonna fly across Gulf of Boni, are ye?'

'Well, that's not really neccesary. There're many more seas to cross later on.'

'I just can't believe you, Levi. Nicky isn't a professional pilot, and he definitely can't survive this.'

'Then you can seek for another route. I just tell you that there ain't no better ways to go.'

Allen sighed, 'So where next from Makale?'

‘We aren't really sure yet, but anyway we'll be getting to Wahai, then Nabire, and enter Papua New Guinea from Tabubil. From Tabubil to Nipa, Kundiawa, then Saidor -'

'And you're gonna cross another channel to New Britain.'

'Yeah, to Kimbe, in West New Britain. Then we'll just cross the island and bang, we're in Metlik! Around 4°48'00"S 152°55'59"E in DMS, and I'll tell you to locate us when we get there. By the way,' Levi added, 'there's also a St George's Channel there.'

'How long will it take?'

'Not too long. We'll soon be in Greece anyway.'

'No. I mean with Nicky.'

'It depends. It depends on HIM, on how fast HE can go.'

'Well, anyway, see ya in Metlik. And yeah, where exactly? Like in which street?'

'We'll send you our accurate coordinate when we get there. I'm afraid we're gonna stay in tents or build a shatter ourselves.'

'Alright. Well, we've gotta go and get Carl and the crew. See ya.'

'Yeah, slan.'

 

'Do whatever you wanna do to ME, but please don't hurt these kids, will you?' Carl begged when Francis and Allen found them.

'Easy, Carl, easy. We're here to help you. Now all of you, come with us, and after some four days you'll be free again.' Said Francis, 'Trust us, we WILL keep you alive.'

Tommy observed them for a while and said, 'But you work for Mrs Rothenstein, don't you?'

'Yeah, we do. But think about it, man, we know so much about her and this family, you think she'll just let us retire and go down to the countryside to enjoy the rest of our lives?'

'After this mission,' Allen interrupted, 'I think she's gonna get rid of us. We'll be killed.'

'Any normal person won't like to die this way. It's just that not until our generation can we figure out a way to get away from her. We've already got a plan in our heads to save Nicky and Shane -'

'Oh, you don't know,' Allen added, 'Olga - Mrs Rothenstein - she's all mad now. Too mad to remember her own name. She's completely forgot about Shane and now she's screaming and shouting to kill Nicky first. So we're gonna take him away from the island but Shane will stay in the city. He's safe in a friend's house and we're watching him.'

'I've called the police.' Suddenly said Carl.

'Okay, good. Now we need you to do everything as we ask you to, so come with us.'

They took the frightened crew to the cellar as Mrs Rothenstein had ordered, and secretly got everything ready for a beautiful escape.

They HAVE to make it. There's no second chance.

 

#### PART XV

Without a reason for living, a chance for forgiving, a time to make it okay.

-Reason For Living

* * *

'Mrs Rothenstein.'

'Mrs Rothenstein.'

'Are they in the cellar?'

'Yes, Ma'am, but -'

'Kill them! Go kill them!' The woman went totally insane.

'But Ma'am, listen to us, please. Levi and Eren were found dead in the woods, and Carl had called the police. The Gardaí can't do much to us, but it's still very dangerous now to kill people on this land. So we're thinking about taking them away, and we have a plan.'

'Fuck your plan! What is it?'

'We're gonna take them to the centre of the Irish Sea and just leave them there.'

'Not bad. But is the Irish Sea big enough?'

'The Irish Sea, Ma'am, you know that. Just to our east!'

'To our east? It's between us and Britain! No! They'll find the land! They should die and sink deep to the bottom of the ocean!' Olga took a breath and continued, 'The Celtic Sea, boys, the Celtic Sea will work. It's big enough and no land around! Go to the Celtic Sea!'

'Yes, Ma'am.'

'Go now!'

Allen secretly wank at Francis and put a hand on his waist, pushing with a little force. They headed to the cellar.

'Gentlemen!' The moment they appeared in the cellar, Muriel cried.

'Yes, Miss?'

'Would you please tell Ma'am I wanna see her? I've got something to tell her.'

'But I'm afraid she won't be happy to see you.' Allen looked at her, and went upstairs.

A few minutes later, however, Mrs Rothenstein did come down. Her luxurious Rococo gown was making some sort of rustle as she walked by.

'What bullshit do you wanna say to me?' She said in the tone of a queen.

Muriel leaned over and whispered something. She definitely didn't see the disgusted face of Olga who looked as if being sticked a piece of shit on the cheek.

'Alright then,' yet Olga finally said, anger in her words, 'as you said! And I'm not coming down again!'

Francis and Allen led all of them out of the cellar with their eyes covered, and managed to get them into a minivan.

'Well, you're allowed to see things now.' Allen announced as Francis gave them the permission to take the blindfolds off, 'Sorry that it has been kind of uncomfortable for you, it's just to convince Olga that we're doing the RIGHT thing.' He made a quotation gesture for 'right', 'You'll soon be free.'

'Where are you taking us to?'

'Well, Olga believes that you're gonna be left on the Celtic Sea, but...of course we won't.'

'We won't LEAVE you there,' Francis added, 'but it's true that you're gonna be taken to the centre of the Celtic Sea, as we've told Olga. But we'll tell you how to get to Britain. It's easy.'

'Actually...where do you prefer, Britain or...France?'

'I'd say Britain.' Said Carl, 'I guess most of us know there better.'

'Then that's it. But one thing,' Allen looked back from the driver's seat at everyone, then said, 'we can only tell you how to get to the land, and of course we'll provide you with enough supplies. But we're not going with you. Is that okay?'

'How can we trust you? I mean, how do we know that you're not showing us the way back to Dublin or, say, just somewhere else?'

'You know, Carl, it's quite brave to ask this question. Here,' Allen took out a GPS receptor and handed it to Francis, who passed it to the rear seat, 'we've got this for you, if you don't have one. Whether you trust us or not, I think that you can at least trust the satellites.'

'Will we be able to keep in touch with you?'

'We're sorry, but that won't be possible.'

'It's the rule.' Said Francis, glancing at Allen, 'It's ridiculous, but we're not allowed to stay in touch with anyone other than our own colleagues and the control.' He paused and looked out of the window, and added, 'Sadly we still haven't found a way to completely get rid of their monitoring system. They can't hear our conversations, but they know where we are and when our speakers are on.'

'But we've made some progress, haven't we.' Allen said, winking at Francis, 'The briefs.'

'Ah, the briefs. But don't mention that again, Allen. It's disgusting.' Francis wrinkled his nose.

'But does that mean,' Tommy interrupted, 'that you can't talk with friends?'

'We...' Francis slowly lowered his head, 'we don't get many chances to talk with other people, so we don't have friends,' he looked up at Allen, 'if colleagues don't count.' He hesitated a bit and went on, 'Most of us were born in the slums, and some others are orphans, and we were taken to Olga - well, we knew her as Mrs Rothenstein when we were young - and she kind of adopted us from birth, and she brought us up -'

'It's not HER.' Allen turned and looked at Francis, 'You don't remember Zella? Olga's got loads of housemaids,' he turned to Tommy, 'and THEY brought us up in another place till we were 12. Then they took us to Olga's manor and we got trained there to be her hitmen. It's just like army, extremely strict and tiring.'

'I'd say cruel. That's not for humans.'

'But you just take that?'

'We were too young. We were only 14 when we got our first missions, which meant that we were signed up for a formal contract.'

'So old are you now? You still look young.'

'I'm soon turning 19, and Allen's 17. Usually her hitmen won't live up to 20. Most of them were killed younger than that, just about our age. And as we were trained in pairs, we go on missions together, and when it's time, she won't just kill one and keep the other. So that's why we said that we might get killed after this mission.'

'By the way,' said Allen, 'may we confirm how old Nicky is?'

'Nico's 18 and Shane's 17.'

'Do you have any idea where they are now?' Asked Allen, 'I mean, has any of them called you or contacted you in any way after Nicky disappeared?'

'No. Not a single news from or about them.'

'Alright then.' Allen pulled up, 'And here we are, what a beautiful harbour.'

Indeed. Despite the fact that they were risking their lives, the night had fallen, and stars blinking at their reflections in the clear sea water, the moon bright in the sky.

Francis got off and opened the rear door. Allen followed a moment later when everyone has got out of the minivan.

'Hey Franc!' Allen patted him on the shoulder, 'See who's there?'

'What?' Francis narrowed his eyes and gazed in the direction Allen was pointing to, 'I can't see well, it's too dark.'

'C'mon, dude.' Allen took Francis's arm and ran to the pier.

A boy was standing there beside several yawls. He wasn't really doing anything, didn't even seem to be waiting for someone, just standing there. His profile was beautiful.

'Kelly!' Called Allen.

The boy budged, but didn't answer.

'Kelly, it's me.' Allen said as he got closer to him, a little out of breath, 'Why're ye here?'

'It's a long story.' Kelly grinned, greeting Francis with a light bisou on the cheek.

'Where's Leslie?'

'Oh yes, Leslie!' He turned around and reached down in one of the yawls, 'Leslie, wake up! I nearly forgot you!'

'Go away...' Leslie muttered drowsily, 'Who's that...get off me...'

'We're working, Lessie, get up!' Kelly caught his collar and pulled him up. Then he turned to Allen and Francis and said, 'I just know you'd come here.'

'Olga told you to track us?'

'Yeah. But it's much more interesting than just that.'

Carl has led the crew to the pier.

'Are they the dancers you've been talking about?' Asked Leslie, cocking his head at the small group of people.

'Yeah. We're gonna free them.'

'You know what, Franc,' Kelly put an arm around Francis and whispered as Allen was trying to wake Leslie up so that they could discuss about their further plans, 'Olga wanted to track you at first, you know that. But it went in a really gratifying way.'

'What...' Francis blinked several times, 'She didn't blow her house up I guess.'

'No, not that.' Kelly chuckled, 'You remember Muriel whispered something to Olga?'

'Yeah?'

'You know what she said?'

'Not a clue. What is it?'

'She's just a doofus. She said that she doubted whether you were really gonna kill these people, and if not, you definitely wouldn't want the trackers reporting where you're going to Olga, so you'd manage to take 'em off and drive 'em away to the opposite direction. Just like, say, if you're going to the Celtic Sea, the trackers may show that you're heading to Norskehavet.'

'Oh great.'

'Yeah, great, innit. So she saw the trackers going this way and she just tracked the opposite direction.'

'Olga's gonna screw her head off her neck when she's back.'

'Definitely. And she's still dreaming of winning Olga's trust and love back.' Kelly snorted.

'But why are you here anyway?'

'She sent four lads to track you - Ronnie, Marion, Lessie, and I. But in fact we asked Ronnie and Marion to go the opposite direction and we came here.'

'And guess what we have for you.' Leslie finally was sober enough to speak, and came over.

'What the hell did you do again?'

'Nah, don't say that. You'll love these.' He pointed at the sea.

'What's there? I see nothing.'

'But they ARE there, Francis.' Leslie winked, 'We're picking you up with cabin cruisers at the centre of the Celtic Sea. One for you guys to come back, others for the crew to reach the shore. I think they're large enough.'

'Are they white and royal blue or something?'

'Stop, Francis, you perfectionist! We've got the largest ones for ye and ain't that good enough? You don't know how dull it's been to explain to them why we need these cruisers!'

'Alright, alright, Lessie, I'm sorry, okay? I was just joking.'

'You gotta get used to this,' Kelly put an arm around his waist, 'it's just Francis being Francis.'

'They do have really large yawls but...' Leslie raised an eyebrow, pouting a little, 'I just prefer cabin cruisers. They look much better.'

'So Allen,' said Kelly in a dramatic tone, 'when can we embrace the vast sea?'

'Don't talk like a lunatic.'

'You're so boring, Allen...When are we setting off?'

'Now.'

'So we're coming with you?' Asked Leslie.

'If you like.'

They got on the yawls, lit the lights, and set off into the darkness of the night. They went straight southwards in the direction of the Celtic Sea. The journey was, for some reason, rather quiet. It seemed like the ocean calmed everyone down.

Until Allen broke the silence. 'Shall we put you somewhere around 50°N and...well, choose a number from 8, 9 and 10.'

'Maybe -'

'8.' Carl cut the words, 'It's closer to Britain, right?'

'Yeah, that's right. So we're dropping you off at 50°N 8°W, how's that?'

'Okay. That's east to Penzance?'

'Yep. And we won't mind if you go to France.'

'So what we have to do is to head east from where you drop us?'

'Yeah, and just follow the GPS.'

'By the way...' Leslie said mysteriously, 'we've prepared a big surprise for you in the cruiser.' he looked around as if confirming that no one else was listening, 'When you get into the cruiser, you'll find - FOOD!'

'Leslie,' Kelly sighed and pushed him aside, 'you're anyway 16, okay?' he rubbed Leslie's chocolate curly hair, then turned to Carl and the dancers, 'He's just sort of...you know, sometimes. We've prepared plenty of food and drink for your sail. You'll find them in the cruiser.'

'That's so nice of you. Thanks.'

'How's Nix now?'Asked Pat.

'He's heading south to leave the island, and now in Gorey. He'll soon be on his way to Wexford by train, I guess. We're picking him up there.'

'We can't let him cross St George's Channel by himself.'

'But boys,' said Carl, 'you should know that he may not be willing to go with you. He's very careful with his actions - sometimes much too prudent - and he's really sensitive.'

'Is it still possible that you get in touch with him?' Asked Allen.

'I don't think so. From the day Felix was dead, I've lost touch with both him and Shane.'

'I've tried to call him several times,' Éline said, 'but no one ever answered. And the line ain't busy either.'

'Will this do,' Tommy suggested, 'that we write something to him,' he turned to Allen, 'and say that he can trust you, that you're here to help. When you see him, just show him the letter. He'll recognise our handwriting.'

'You got paper?'

'Yeah, luckily. And pencil. I didn't take pens.'

'That doens't matter. Pens are terrible when they leak.'

'Whose handwriting is better? I don't think Nico can recognise what I write.'

'Not me.'

'Carl?'

Carl stared in a 'what the fucking hell' look at the girl who asked him, 'You think my handwriting's anywhere better than that of you guys?'

'You're the director.'

'This doesn't manke sense. You've seen my notes on the script. My teachers called my handwriting "dead mosquitoes pressed flat on the paper".'

'Just write it Carl. Nicky won't mind that.'

'At least he can understand what you noted on the script, but he's never recognised what I wrote on the wall.'

'You've got a point there.'

The five yawls went through St George's Channel in a square formantion. In the one in the middle, a light was moved close to light up the paper Carl was writing on. The dancers said what they wanted Nicky to know, and what Carl did was mostly just noting them down. It's hard for him to come up with something to write other than telling him that these boys were safe and trustable. He still remembered seeing Nicky at the college stage drama contest and being so impressed by his 5-minute performance as an unsuccessful dancer - that was what he himself was like back in the early days. He didn't know how to promote himself; talking has never been a talent of his. He joined a few clubs, performed in several streets, and was liked by the club members and known to the people who frequent those streets; but that was all. And when the girls approached, impressed by his dance and hoping for a small talk, a hug and a kiss on the cheek, the crowd became unusually excited while he felt nothing special. 'They're flirting with you, mate! Can't you see that?' His buds told him afterwards. Yes, he did see that, but there was never any adrenaline rush sort of thing in him, and he knew that this was not considered normal. The girls, on the other hand, gradually lost insterest in such a guy who did not know how to flirt back. It was a down time for him. Then, there came Roberto. He was a member in one of the clubs Carl was in too, but Carl hadn't paid much attention to this Spanish lad, for their schedule was mostly different and they, as a result, didn't see each other often. However, somehow Roberto could understand what Carl had inside, and from a certain moment on, he began purposely passing by the street Carl danced in every evening, not leaving until the full show was over. Predictably, he got Carl's attention, and their relashionship started to grow, a bit like that between Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas, one they could share with each other but not speak out loud about. And years later, when he watched this 18-year-old blond boy named Nicholas Byrne performing this little school play, these memories, for some reason, flashed back, and he saw himself, not the famous director and choreographer, but the young and unexperienced country boy, in those clear blue eyes.

When the letter was finally finished, Carl took a look at his own handwriting. 'That's disgusting,' he murmured, 'the writing.'

The letter ended with everyone's signature, and was wrapped into a handmade envelope. Allen took it and kept it in his coat.

'I can't sign that well like Nicky does.' Said one of the boys. He wasn't really saying this to anyone.

'He said he's been practising. He's been pretty sure at a young age that he's gonna be famous.'

'He'd be a great footballer. I've watched some of his games. He's brilliant.'

'He's leaving Ireland?' Another guy asked, looking at Allen.

'Yeah. It seems like he's planned to cross this channel too.'

'Then where's he going next?'

'Maybe France, who knows. But at least he's taking the right way.'

'What do you mean "right way"?'

'The way WE're gonna take to send him to two of our colleagues.'

'To where?'

'New Ireland.'

'Sorry?'

'New Ireland. It's in Papua New Guinea.'

'That's far.'

'Yeah, a bit. But any way Levi and Eren - the two colleagues I've mentioned - they're going there by hang gliders and -'

'What the fuck?' Exclaimed Leslie.

'Yeah, they're fucking mad, I know. But I guess they're already somewhere near Turkey now. When they called yesterday, Levi said they were at Milford Haven.'

'You mean they're travelling around on those engined hang gliders?' Leslie leaned closer and asked in a lower voice.

'Yeah.'

'That's bloody cool.'

'Is there a New Britain?'

'Yep.'

'Oh, really. I was just joking.'

'But there is. And a St George's Channel to the southwest of the island, between New Ireland and New Britain.'

'You're kidding.'

'I'm not. Go get a map and check it yourself.'

'I think,' interrupted Francis, 'I think we're here. 50°N 8°W. From here, go straight eastwards and it won't be long before you fing yourself at The Lizard. Or you can choose to go a little bit southwards to reach Isles of Scilly, that's up to you.'

'Or if you want a third option, you can go a bit northwards to Penzance, but I don't really like that idea. Cornwall is beautiful.'

'So guys,' Kelly slowly stood up, making sure that he didn't step on anyone, 'it's time to say goodbye, and we'll miss you all.' He said with a playful wink, 'And...don't try to contact us, please. We're sorry that we can't accompany you to your destination, so...wish you all the best, yeah, that's it.'

'God bless you too.'

Several cabin cruisers approached to let Carl and the crew board, and the staffs on the cruisers then got into the yawl to return to the pier. As they waved goodbye and little by little disappeared in the dark, the four boys settled themselves in the one last cruiser, ready to head back with the yawls.

'I just know you won't kill them.' Said Leslie softly with relief.

'So what should we say to Olga?' Asked Kelly.

'What we're thinking is,' Francis said, glancing at Allen who was curling up in his left arm, 'we'll anyway die as long as Olga has access to us. But with Nicky, it may be different. They're in great danger now,' he raised his hands as himself growing excited, 'but if we can find a way to help them out, and find a way to spread the word about Olga's deeds, we may be able to stay alive. What Olga is really afraid of,' he took a breath, clapping his hands together, 'the only threat for her, is that someone speak out about her -'

'Franc!' Grumbled Allen, 'Would you just not do so much gesture when you're talking? You nearly hit me!'

'Oh, I'm sorry.'

'But what do we say to Olga? We can't just say some bullshit like we had a fight with them and you got thrown into the water.'

'Why not? That's not bullshit; that can make a great story. They're an entire crew with around ten boys,' Said Allen, sitting up but still leaning his shoulder on Francis, 'and we're only four. You just say that those people tried to resist and so we had a fight and we were injured and thrown into the water, but anyway at last we drowned them in the sea and took the boat.'

'But you're leaving to get Nico -'

'Yeah, and that's why I said "took the boat" instead of "took the boat back". It's as if you went back first - make up a story like what I've just said, say that we're okay and we just asked you to report the whole thing to Olga, just something like that - and expected us to show up.'

'But eventually you don't.'

'Yeah, eventually we don't.'

'Anything you want us to bring for ye? Your bags or something?'

'Yeah, take my backpack. It has everything in it. And...if you can, get a chance and tell the other lads about this plan.'

'Except Fish.'

'Of course. I sometimes do wonder what his parents were thinking when they gave him the name Forest Fish.'

'Maybe that's not even his real name.'

'But c'mon, no one would give himself such a stupid anonym.'

'I do remember a guy called Forest Flower in one mission.'

'Weren't there a maid in that place where we grew up called Flora Flower?'

'No, I don't remember.'

'You certainly won't remember her, Lessie. You were only 2 at that time. She was rather nice to us, but unfortunately, she once bought some newspaper out there, worked out the puzzle on it and contacted the office to get the prize -'

'Oh no.'

'Oh yes. And she did get the prize, but she was so overwhelmed that she show it off to everyone - if it wasn't that she brought us up, I'd say that she's really stupid enough to do that. I don't even remember what that prize was, but she told almost every single person around that she's got a prize from the papers.'

'And we haven't ever seen her again from the next day.'

'She was nice, really.'

'Oh, guys, I ask you a thing,' Kelly started giggling, 'Leslie, you should remember this. We were on that mission together.'

'What mission? It's not that one where you got stuck in -'

'No! Don't talk about that or I'll throw you off.' Kelly glared at him, 'Someone called Havelock Pearson,' he chuckled, raising an eyebrow at Allen and Francis, 'you think it's a man or woman?'

'If you ask it this way, it's definitely gonna be a woman.'

'You're so boring, Allen.'

'Then go bring me my backpack,' Allen ordered with a slightly annoyed look, 'and don't forget to take my message. We'll be waiting here.' he took Francis's arm and dragged him into one of the yawls as saying.

'You...you really believe that we can find Nico?' Francis softly asked after Kelly and Leslie had left in the cabin cruiser.

'You don't have to speak so secretly. They won't be listening.' Allen meant the staffs.

'No, I'm not trying to be secret. I'm just tired.'

'We'll find him. As long as he's still on the earth, we'll find him.' Allen took a look at him, and added, 'He's still in Gorey now.'

'So we should be waiting in Wexford.'

'Yeah. In the train station. He'll be arriving by train.'

'Hmm.' Mumbled Francis, his eyes closing.

It was really late in the night, and Francis was falling asleep with his head on Allen's shoulder. The stars were beautiful, and several times Allen wanted to wake Francis up, but stopped himself halfway. Francis was 2 years older than Allen, but that didn't seem to make him maturer in many ways. One typical thing of him that Allen had been amused by was that he always needed something to grab in his hands to sleep well. Now he's leaning his head on Allen's shoulder, his hair tickling Allen's neck, and his hand gripping Allen's shirt sleeve.

It didn't take too long for Kelly and Leslie to take the backpacks and fled out again under the eyes of all the guards.

'Wake up, Franc.' Allen whispered in Francis' ear, shaking him gently, as he saw the lights of the cabin cruiser, 'They're coming back. Wake up.'

'Who's coming back?' Francis rubbed his eyes.

'Kelly and Lessie. We're gonna get going.'

'Hope you didn't wait for too long.' Said Leslie as they exchanged places again.

'No, not really.' Allen glanced at Francis, 'By the way, have you got rid of the trackers?'

'You have?' Leslie narrowed his eyes.

'Yeah, of course!' Allen laughed, 'Or you think we dare going around like this? With the trackers on?' But within a second his smile was gone, and he looked straight into Leslie's eyes, staring at him for a good five seconds. 'Don't tell me you still have them on.' He asked with a low, almost purring voice.

'I don't even know where they are.' There's panic in his voice.

'Eren didn't call you?' Whispered Kelly. It sounded more like a conclusion rather than an interrogation.

'When did he call?'

'Yesterday. Around midnight. It was a secret call, Olga didn't know about it. I don't know how they hacked the moniter system but they did.'

Leslie was silent for a while, his pale blue eyes wide open, losing focus. Eventually, he murmured, voice trembling, 'I was out.'

'Last night?'

'Yeah, I was out. You remember Olga had asked me to get her some ingredients for dinner? In that 24-hour store?'

'Fuck.'

'She did it on purpose, I guess.'

'May not be that bad. But you're being tracked, Lessie, only you among all of us.'

'Take your clothes off.' Suddenly demanded Allen.

'S...Sorry?' Leslie's lips were slightly shivering.

'Take your clothes off, and put my spare ones on.' Francis reached out to open his backpack, 'The trackers are in the washing powder.' He said and led Leslie into the cabin.

It took a while for Leslie to regain his awareness. They dropped his old clothes in the water, which, coincidentally, could just perfectly made sense with their lie that only Kelly made it back to the manor.

'But Franc missed two things.' Leslie said later when he and Kelly were lying in the cruisers, long after Allen and Francis had left.

'What do you mean?'

'First thing, you don't have the trackers with you. The first thing Olga will ask you if you go back,' he shifted to look Kelly in the eye, 'ain't gonna be "Where are they?". It's gonna be "Where have you been? I can't track you.".'

Kelly was silent for a moment. There was a slight shade of fear in his eyes. Rare for him.

'The second thing,' Leslie took a deep breath, 'is that you and I have got back and got out again, but it seems to Olga like only I did, and you were nowhere to be found. And then I was back in the Celtic Sea and I drowned. I'm afraid she's already noticed that. And if you somehow make it back, it will be even more suspective.'

'I'll call Marion.' Kelly murmured.

 

'They didn't go that way. We're sorry, Ma'am. We didn't find them.'

'But our locator showed that they stopped in the middle of the Celtic Sea, Ma'am. The accurate coordinate is 50°N 8°W.'

Mrs Rothenstein fixed her eyes on Ronnie and Marion for a while. 'Take Muriel here. Now.' She then ordered, so unusually calm.

It was one of the very few times that Mrs Rothenstein had stepped out of her manor. She witnessed Muriel fall off the Cliff of Moher, got pierced and cracked on a sharp marine stack, and finally drowned in the sea.

Olga turned around. Her Rococo gown rustled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There ain't much Shnicky stuff in this chapter I know...It's more about my original characters, but well, personally I like this chapter. And...I've been reading some Mormor and London Spy fanfics these days so there may be some similar traits when I write my own works...


	6. Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We'll see Nico again in this chapter...finally. It's about how Allen and Francis caught up with Nicky and took him to Metlik.

**PART XVI**

When everything is war, you're living in a battle zone.

\- Reach Out

* * *

Several knocks on the door.

'Waldo!' Called Victoria, 'The door!'

Waldo opened the door. Outside in the glow of the setting sun stood two young men.

'Oh boys, please come in. Anythin' we can do for ye?'

'Well, thanks. We um...we're looking for somewhere to stay for the night and -'

'Oh, of course you can stay here, no problem.' The old man smiled and led them into the cottage, 'We're just getting dinner ready. Not very good food that we have, but the smell of fish soup is just the smell of home, isn't it,' Waldo took a glance at them, 'as long as you like fish.'

'Yeah, we like fish, don't we, Jacob?'

'Yeah. We were born just by the sea and have lived with the sea.'

'Actually...even if you didn't like fish, we have nothing more than that.' Waldo raised an eyebrow, 'So where are you going, boys?'

'We're on our way home now, so by the way we'll be leaving tomorrow when the sun sets.'

'Alright.' Said Waldo, 'You know, boys, we don't always have guests here, so it's really nice that you dropped in. And it's really great to have more people at the dinner table.' Then he turned to the kitchen and called, 'Vickie, these two young lads are staying for dinner!'

A lovely old lady with long silver gray hair carefully and gracefully braided stepped out from the kitchen. 'Oh, welcome, my boys!' she opened her arms and gave each of them a hug, 'How long are you staying? I heard you just said you're staying for two days?'

'Well...we can actually leave tomorrow noon -'

'No, no, definitely not. You have to at least have lunch and leave. You've certainly got a long way to go, and we won't let you go with your stomach still empty.'

'That's really nice of you. Thank you.'

The dinner was simple, and as Waldo said, there's nothing but fish. But in a fishing village, you couldn't ask for too much, could you.

The old couple, Victoria and Waldo Jebb, were really nice to them. The boys were settled in a large room with two single beds.

'What are we doing tomorrow, Franc?'

'I don't know. Maybe -'

Someone knocked on the door, very gently. 'Hello boys? May I come in for a while?' It was Victoria.

'Yes, of course. Please.' Allen opened the door.

'Thanks.' Victoria said as stepping in, 'I'm just coming in to ask that, may I know your names please?'

'Oh, yes, sure. We forgot to introduce ourselves, sorry for that.' Allen put a hand on Francis's back, 'I'm Jaques Isherwood, and this is my big brother, Jacob.'

'I guess I'm never gonna get used to being called Jacob or something.' said Francis after Victoria had left, 'Anonyms are just annoying.'

'I asked you what to do tomorrow. We can't stay in all day long.'

'Let's just wander around and do nothing. I don't feel like going too far from this cottage.'

They ended up spending a day just walking along the shore. When the sun began setting, they bade goodbye to the Jebbs and got ready to leave. As the night fell, they put their hands on the control bar of the engined hang gliders and took off.

Next stop, Wexford.

 

**PART XVII**

Always know that I would find a way to get to where you are. There's no place that far.

\- No Place That Far

* * *

'It's just so cool flying to here within a few hours, isn't it.'

'Calm down, Franc. His train's arriving early this morning, I'm afraid.'

'I don't get it. If I were him, I'd take night trains.' Sighed Francis, 'You mean we're gonna wait for another three hours?'

'Well, real good things always take their time to happen.'

'I still don't understand why Olga suddenly just put Nico the first on her list.'

'He ruined her plan. Shane was just Felix's childhood rival in love, but Nicky knows too much. He recognised the powder on the candles.'

'But that's all because of Shane from the very beginning.'

'Yeah, theoretically yes. But she's all mad now. All she knows now is that Nicky ruined her plan and indirectly killed her goddamn beloved son. Shane's just her SON's foe or something, not hers. Now Felix's dead, so Shane matters little to her. Remember Muriel got thrown off the Cliff of Moher for what? For coming back late and missing the opportunity to save Felix, or in another way, coming back early and not staying there to save Felix.'

'But that's still her son! She cared so much about Muriel failing to keep him safe, and then -'

'She'll forget about Shane, trust me. Eventually she will. She failed a plan which she had thought was perfect. That's what matters the most.'

'But what shall we do to him when he arrives?'

'Go and have a talk. Show him the letter.'

'That's not very specific.'

'It's still too early to be specific. You've still got three hours to go, and you'll never know what's gonna happen next.'

The night was dark, and a little bit cold in late autumn.

A few trains passed, but Nicky wasn't on any of them. They just waited.

 

'Allen! Allen, wake up!'

'What...?' He mumbled.

'Listen! Is that a whistle?'

'Yeah...maybe...guess it is...'

'Then that's it! It's him! Nicky's arriving!'

'What - Oh, yeah, okay. Did I sleep for this long?'

'Yes you did. Now c'mon.'

The train appeared shortly after they settled in their hiding place.

'Scissors, paper, rock?'

'Alright.'

'You lose. You go and talk to him.'

'I hate you, Francis.'

'Just go.' Francis pushed Allen out into the platform, and stayed in the dark corner himself.

There weren't many people on the platform. Allen wandered around, putting on an anxious and expecting face as if waiting for someone - well, he WAS waiting for someone, and that anxiousness and expectation weren't all fake. He turned on the locator and searched the people around him. Because there weren't a crowd, Nicky was soon located. He was dressed in a black overcoat with a big hood covering almost the entirety of his face.

Allen instinctively called Francis, but only to realise halfway that he wasn't by his side. He sighed, and pulled himself together, and came over to the man in black.

'Sorry, sir.' He said in a gentle voice, patting Nicky on the shoulder softly, 'Would you please spare some time?'

Nicky stopped, but didn't turn around, nor saying a word.

'Well, look, we - I'd like to tell you something if you've got some time to sit down with me and listen. It's quite important to you, what I'm gonna tell you.'

Nicky budged, but didn't answer.

'It's gonna take some time, so if you like, I suggest that we sit down and have some coffee and have a good talk.' Allen was suddenly realising that he may sound quite suspecious - and a bit too pressing.

Nicky hesitated for half a second before taking out a small notebook and a pen and writing something on. Then he turned his side to Allen, not revealing his face, and showed the words to Allen.

'WHO ARE YOU?' He wrote in clear, artistic capital letters.

'I can't tell you now, because revealing my identity in a public place like this can be dangerous for me. But you'll know later when we sit down.'

'+ YOU EXPECT ME TO FOLLOW YOU.' The new writing read.

'I'm not a kidnapper. I'm serious.'

'KIDNAPPERS DON'T TALK THIS MUCH.'

Allen was speechless. He hadn't expected this boy to be this sassy. Nicky then wrote something more, 'AND KIDNAPPERS WORK IN GANGS.'

'Well...I'm not alone here, I've got a friend but I can't see him now -' then Allen was interrupted by a hand on his shoulder.

'Alright, Allen. I'll do it.' It was Francis.

'Okay, so here he is, my damn friend, Francis.'

Nicky didn't answer. Francis pushed Allen side, gave him a look, and came a step closer to Nicky.

'Morning, Nicky.' Said Francis, 'It's Nicholas Byrne Jr in complete, right? I know that you may not be really delighted to see us, and you don't wanna reveal you face or you voice. You suspect us. I think that you know who Mrs Olga Rothenstein is. Felix's mother. Literally, we work for her. But listen, our situation isn't any better than you. We can explain that to you later, but now what we'd like to say is that we're willing to help you out; it's for our benefits too. And we're pretty sure that we CAN help you out, only if you cooperate. So now would you please come over to the café by the corner and have a talk with us as well as having a cup of hot americano or something?'

Nicky sighed. 'Seems like you've known too much about me,' he turned to face them and raised the edge of the hood a little so that he could look them in the eye, 'and I've got nothing more to hide from you now.' He casted a quick glance at Francis and Allen, 'So how's Shane now? Do you know?' He asked as following them to the café.

Allen and Francis looked at each other. For a moment they didn't know how to answer.

'Well...he...Shane's with a friend of his now.'

'It's a guy called Kian Egan, the cousin of Shane's girlfriend, Gillian Walsh. Two of our colleagues are keeping a watch on him, and he's all good so far.'

Nicky nodded slowly.

'But...' Allen added, 'Olga's number one target isn't Shane anymore. It's you. She thinks that you ruined her plan.'

Nicky didn't respond.

Francis opened the door of the café. Few people were here. They seated themselves in a quiet corner, Allen and Francis on one side and Nicky facing them on the other side. Francis got up and brought back three grandes americanos.

Nicky kept silent, blocks of blond hair shining against the dark cloth of the hood.

'Well, Nicky, we know that you don't fully trust us,' said Allen, 'so we'd like to show you this. It's from Carl and the cast.' He took out an envelope in which contained the letter they wrote on the yawl, and placed it in front of Nicky.

Nicky frowned a little, and looked at him. Then he hesitatingly took the envelope and opened it with a small Swiss army knife. He read it, but they couldn't see his expressions. The hood shaded his face, and he didn't budge a single bit. He simply remained there still, like a portrait, in the low light, for several seconds.

'May I keep it?' Nicky finally asked softly.

'Yes, yes of course.'

'Thanks.' He whispered, carefully folding the letter and putting it back into the envelope, then keeping it in the pocket inside the coat.

'So now that you've read the letter, and that they've reached - where are they now, Franc?'

'Cornwall.'

'Alright, so they've reached the UK safe and sound, then would you agree to do this with us? We're taking you to two of our other colleagues, Levi and Eren, who are in Metlik -'

'They haven't reached Indonesia yet.'

'That's a bit slow for them. Anyway, they'll be meeting us in Metlik, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea. There you'll be safe, and no one will go and kill you. Levi and Eren will be there with you till we get Olga and her remaining follower.'

'What do you mean "remaining follower"?' Nicky asked.

'Most of our colleagues are on our side now, but there's still one person who's stupid enough to believe that we're still so loyal to Olga. He doesn't even know where his trackers are. He's never thought about looking for them.'

'And Olga, she's falling now, but I don't think she realises this.'

Nicky nodded. 'Then what kind of situation are you in?'

'We're very likely to be killed after this mission. She never keeps her hitmen for more than 20 years.'

Nicky looked up at them in the eye. They saw in his eyes that he began to care.  There wasn't an obvious astonishment, but there was some emotion.

'And...we apologise for that night...you know, the drunk driver. We're really sorry for that, though it wasn't any of us.'

'But we hit you with the football,' Allen said, glancing at Francis, 'with some other lads. We meant to just distract you, but it went the wrong way and we saw you just...I hope you weren't so badly hurt?'

Nicky smiled. He took a sip of the coffee and said, 'It's your job. I won't blame you for that. But you said I'd be taken to Metlik...' he licked his lips subconsciously, 'may I see Shane before that?'

This question was like a silent bomb to Allen and Francis. It had already exploded inside Nicky and it hurt so much, but it somehow hit them as well. Francis looked at Allen, trying to search for an answer.

'You mean...returning to Dublin?' Allen asked, leaning in closer.

'Yeah.' Nicky sensed the change in Allen's voice, and answered with a slight nervousness, 'Just once, just this time,' he took a breath, 'because...I don't think I can be back again - at least not in recent years. Actually what I had planned before meeting you was to just hang about somewhere nearby, France, Britain, or somewhere else, and I'd be going back with another identity. It's not too difficult for an actor, even improfessional. And maybe I'd take Shane away from the island, or maybe I'd die there with him. Now I'm certainly aware that your plan is much better than that, but I still have this one last request.'

'Look, Nicky,' said Francis, 'we can keep you safe, and we can send you to most of the places you wanna go, and if necessary, we can accompany you. We've got rid of the trackers for now, so they can't find us. But there's one thing, that you said you've planned to go back with another identity. It's obvious that you should, but we can't do much on this for you.'

'I know. I don't even need another ID. Crossdressing will do.' Smiled Nicky, 'But does he have any plan recently? Like, is he going somewhere?'

'Not yet. We're waiting. But you won't go back to the college or go to Kian's house to find him, will you.'

'No, of course not.'

'But Franc,' said Allen, 'you said we're gonna wait?'

'Yeah. I think we'll stay here for some time and see what they've got from Dublin for us.'

'Stay...in the station?'

'In Wexford, doofus.'

'I don't want any fishing villages.'

'Well, I haven't said that yet. We'll try and find a hotel.'

Eventually they settled down for the moment in Talbot Hotel, registered as three travellers. When they met in Allen's room and Nicky finally took off the hood and revealed his entire face, they began to understand what he meant by 'crossdressing will do'.

 

**PART XVIII**

Midnight diamonds stud my heaven, southwards burning like the jewels that eye your place.

\- Miss You Nights

* * *

'Coffee?' Murmured Allen, trying to lift his eyelids.

It was a lovely morning in Wexford.

'Wake up, Allen. Think about how to kill the day. We can't stay in the hotel room all day long; we're some goddamn tourists now, so there should be somewhere to go everyday - well, maybe not EVERYDAY, but at least we've gotta be out often.'

'Alright, alright Captain Francis. But why must we start working the moment we wake up? Can't we just put it down for a while?'

'For what? We've got a big plan, Allen.'

'Oh yes, yeah, BIG fucking plan.' Allen got out of the bed and looked out the French windows. The sun's shining, and the coffee smelled great. 'You've made coffee, Franc?'

'Not me.'

'Over here.' The voice came from behind the curtains.

Allen turned to the French windows again, recognising a misty silhouette painted on the blue drapes, glided by the morning sun.

'I was just thinking it's not like you to make coffee in the morning.' Allen glanced at Francis before taking a sip of the espresso, 'Thanks, Nico. Didn't see you there.'

As Nicky stepped out from the narrow space between the window and the drapes, Francis asked, 'Whattaya wanna do today?'

Nicky stood and said after a short hesitation, 'Anything. You've got no plan?'

'Not yet. Do you wanna go somewhere?'

'I don't know. Anywhere is okay. I'm just getting away from the island, you know.'

'Well, ain't that what WE're doing too. But you know it won't be long before we can go take a look at Dublin anyway.'

'How do you know?'

'Every year you've got a Christmas party, yeah? And Shane will sing this time. The boys will definitely meet up at some pub and discuss about the gig, and you can just go and sit there.'

'Sounds cool. But where are we going today?'

'Maybe we can go visit the churches or something. The buildings in the town are said to be pretty impressive,' Said Francis, 'and I remember St Peter's College is here too.'

They set off in the lovely morning, dressing as three ordinary tourists. Anyways, they could always easily get the dirty clothes and worn backpacks for a nice little disguise.

For the next few days, they just wandered around the town, from time to time taking a break in the hotel room. For safety reaons, they only booked one room with an extra bed.

Nicky was waiting and watching. He knew he was in great danger even it seemed that Francis and Allen were treating him like a real friend - They called him Nico this morning. His nickname since a little boy. And he was rather sure that Shane would not be happy to see him, so he decided not to get himself recognised. Shane would be with his bandmates, and the boys were actually nice. Maybe Gill would be there too, or maybe she wouldn't return for Christmas, who knows. He loved seeing them together, and Shane certainly cared about this girl.

He woke up at midnight. The moon was bright, quiet, and so calm that it looked a bit cold. The moon of a dream.

 

**PART XIX**

 So take a look at me now. There's just an empty space. There's nothing here left to remind me, just the memory of your face.

\- Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)

* * *

'Nix!' Allen woke up one afternoon, took a sip of Nicky's espresso, answered a call and suddenly shouted towards the curtains, 'We're going back to Dublin! He'll be in The Viscount Lounge tonight!'

'When?' Nicky lifted the curtains and walked out.

'8:00. It's almost 4:00 now. We're leaving soon.'

Nicky took a bag and went into the bathroom. He had previously picked up some girl's clothes when they were in a mall, lying to the salesgirl that they were for his girlfriend. He avoided making much noise in the bathroom, and Allen and Francis were quiet outside too. For a moment, Nicky doubted whether they were just waiting to see what he was doing in here.

A while later, Allen and Francis heard a few knocks on the bathroom door.

'Yes, Nicky?' Allen went over.

'Put your suits on,' said Nicky, 'or I don't think we're gonna look right if you're just in shirts and jeans and those backpacks.'

'Jesus, Nico, what have you done there? You're not gonna dress up like a -'

The handle turned.

As the heel touched the floor with a clear knock, Allen simply fell silent.

This was the boy they were protecting. THIS WAS HIM. However hard it was to believe.

'Beautiful.' Whispered Francis. 'You know, you should've just been a girl.'

'He means that if you were a lady, he would fall in love with you.'

'Fuck off, Allen.'

Nicky took a casual glance at them, and began packing his things into the shoulder bag while the other two boys stuffed all other things roughly in their suitcases.

'I see why you refused to get your hair cut.' Allen suddenly went.

'That was initially for the dance drama.'

'But what shall we call you now? You need an alias.'

'Whatever you want.'

'Veronica? I love this name.'

'Good.' He smiled. At least he tried to convince them he did. He was a confident, proud person, yes, but sometimes memories can break anyone.

The sun was setting.

 

At Wexford Train Station, two men and a young lady were waiting on the platform. They were quiet, not excited about the trip at all, whispering something in each others' ears from time to time others could barely hear.

The train soon arrived, and the young lady got on with her shoulder bag, the two men carrying their suitcases following close behind her.

'Remember,' said Francis after they settled down in the compartment, 'just walk in and order something you like - don't get drunk, of course - and sit down and read the book you take with you. Act like normal, yeah? I mean, we'll keep an eye on you, and you don't need to pay attention to no one but Shane.'

Nicky nodded, sort of absently, looking out the window. This trip was quite pleasant, still, when he wasn't thinking about what's coming up next. The feelings he had this time was different from the one from Dublin to Wexford. Maybe it was because he was with someone he could trust. At least for now.

'But there's another problem.' Nicky said in a low voice.

'What is it?' Asked Francis.

'They probably know my voice. I don't think it's a good idea to talk much.'

'You mean that we order the drink for you?'

'And for you two. You can leave after a short while, 'cause he may recognise you.'

'Okay. Call us when you're ready to leave. We'll be waiting under the streetlight behind the pub.'

'Alright.'

Th evening sunlight outlined a peaceful silhouette.

 

An elegant girl entered The Viscount Lounge with two rather handsome boys. One of the latters accompanied the girl to seat in a quiet corner as the other ordered the drinks.

The boys were in casual but neat pullovers and cool black overcoats, shiny suitcases in their hands. But that couldn't steal a wee bit of the girl's beauty. She wasn't dolled up, she didn't array herself in very colourful, fine or luxury clothes, she had little makeup on; she was in a simple, fitting black overcoat, a black top hat on her head, and she carried a large black shoulder bag. The ribbon on her hat and the inner side of her coat were of a lovely blue colour, and a silver waistband sketched the contours of her small waist; these were the only colours on her, apart from the fair complexion, those sensitive blue eyes and her blond hair. She was watching the boy ordering things at the bar somehow curiously while chatting with the one beside her.

A while later after they all sat down at the table, one of the boys said, 'Sorry, Veronica, but we gotta be away for a while. We'll be back.'

The girl called Veronica nodded and watched the boys walking out.

After they had left, she took out a book and began reading. So quiet she was; whatever happening around and whoever passing by, she just sat there and focused on the book and the drink.

A quarter to eight. A young man with dark hair went in. He looked around, then walked to the bar to order a Viscount Charger before heading straight to where Veronica was sitting.

The boy took a seat right beside her, placed some paper on the table and started working on them, looking up at the people coming in from time to time.

Veronica went on with the book. She knew the boy was there. SHE KNEW THE BOY. Or in fact, Nicky knew Shane noticed him. He knew that the latter was turning his head to him little by little, focusing on him more than on his Viscount Charger. He knew Shane was staring at him, confused and amazed. For a moment, he wondered if Shane figured out who he was under the disguise. So he casted a very quick glance at him. Shane turned away like a child waking up from a nightmare - at least he hadn't changed much.

When Nicky felt Shane's eyes on him again, he took a slightly longer look at his old friend and pulled a smile from one side of his lips. It was all for today, Nicky thought, and maybe all for forever. 'I'll go look for you.' He turned away, shading his face with the hair, and whispered into the microphone hidden in his collar.

Shane immediately recognised the fragrance in the breeze this mysterious girl's coat made as he quickly walked away, disappearing in the crowd and the night.

A few minutes later, his bandmates arrived.

'Hey, Shane, y'know what you missed?'

'What?'

'There's a GORGEOUS girl just passing by! Pity she didn't came in.'

'He's got Gill. He ain't interested in other girls, right, Shane?' Teased Derrick.

'Well, there was a GORGEOUS girl sitting beside me just now. She's just left.'

'Could that be her? Was she in a black coat and a coffee-coloured shawl?'

'I didn't see any shawl. But a long black coat, yes. And a black hat.'

'It may be her. She was with two guys.'

'Two guys?'

'Yeah. They picked her up and put the shawl around her. Thye're close.'

'But she was sitting alone there.'

'I guess you didn't see the two guys, Shane. They weren't at the door. One of them showed up as the girl walked past, and he had the shawl. He got a smile and a kiss on the cheek, you know. Then the other boy came up and took her hand, and they went down the street together. Oh, you should've seen that, Shane, she smiled like an angel!'

'Well, I can imagine that. The girl I was talking about smiled at me too, and I can never forget it. I like her perfume, by the way.'

Yes, her perfume. Shane had found it familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had smelt it before. And he wasn't sure whether he could smell it again - maybe never, he thought.

 

**PART XX**

You've gotta stand up for something, even if you might fall. Gotta take the road, wherever it might go.

\- I Did It For You

* * *

'Didn't expect you to do it so beautifully.' Remarked Francis as Nicky had got changed, 'You're making me wonder why you were born a boy.'

Nicky smiled. 'I hope you don't mind that little kiss. It wasn't really in the plan.'

'No, not at all. You know how many people were jealous. Now we can leave for Metlik, I guess?'

'How?'

'By hang gliders. Is that okay?'

'Yeah, I guess.'

'It's a long way, and it's gonna be quite tiring, I think I should tell you. We may be flying all night and not eating for a day, you know.'

'Yeah, I've been expecting that. It's alright.'

'You've flied before?'

'No, not really.'

'It's not difficult. We're taking off tonight in St Stephen's Green.'

Oh well. This could kill him, Nicky told himself, but it was currently the only way out. As the night fell, they soared into the sky, passed above several blocks, heading for the ocean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter has taken especially long to finish because I was preparing my CEE. When I was writing this chapter some three years ago, I particularly carefully designed the outfit for Nicky when he returned to see Shane, and WMC said that I'd got too strong a partiality for Nicky, and she thought that I was making him a bit too feminine. Well, I don't deny it. He's always been my favourite Westlifer. And for the second point she mentioned, I've actually changed a lot in this final version (in the manuscript he was INDEED too feminine). Thanks a mill for reading, and I'm putting up the next chapter very soon.


	7. It's You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This girl. Shane has never seen her again, but she somehow stayed in his mind. There's something about her that he felt like having appeared in his dreams, but of which he had no clear memories. Who on earth was her?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in this chapter Shane and Kian will figure out Nicky's disguise as Veronica! I don't know if I've made this process a bit to quick and easy, though...Anyway, hope you like it!

**PART XXI**

Acting so crazy, but sorry's come too late.

\- I'm Missing Loving You

* * *

The Christmas Party was a huge success. Shane and his bandmates went back to the Viscount Lounge to celebrate, meanwhile expecting to see Ms Mystery again.

But she didn't show up. She never showed up again.

The boys said that the parts Shane wrote were brilliant. They WERE, indeed. He couldn't imagine what was going to happen if they had sung _Butterfly Kisses_.

Late at night, he returned to Kian's place.

Shane was planning to go home, and so was Kian. Both from Sligo, they could take the DART train together while Brian, the Dubliner nextdoor, needn't travel a long way - his accent sounded familiar to Shane. Mrs Onion had left to reunite with her family in Britain; she was here running a little sweetshop, enjoying the fresh air in the lovely seaside city.

Sitting in the white bedroom packing the luggage, Shane came to realise, finally, after struggling for so long, that there's something and someone he would never be able to forget. He should've just give up on the struggle, or maybe he shouldn't have even tried.

He looked out the window - the sun was setting, shining particularly bright in its last moments that he could see nothing but a dark outline of the world. The light dazzled his eyes. Two months ago, such an evening, he chose to get rid of the past and remove, at least he hoped to, all the memories he didn't want to rethink of. And he was confident; he thought he could make it.

When Nicky told him he was moving out, he said he understood. He thought he had known what kind of person Nicky really was. But now, it turned out that he hadn't. The doubt has come back to haunt him. Maybe Kian was right; it wasn't so simple as he had thought.

 

**PART XXII**

They say, once in a lifetime, out of the blue, here comes an angel. I know it's you.

\- Tunnel Of Love

* * *

'Ki?'

'Yes?'

'You said things weren't that simple as I had thought,' Shane took a look at the view flashing by outside the train, 'and what did you mean by that?'

'What are you talking about?'

'About Nico.'

'You still remember what I said?'

'I think you were right.'

'You know what happened?'

'No. I mean, I don't know everything. But I just FEEL that you were right.' Said Shane, looking into those blue eyes of his friend, 'So what did you mean when you said that?'

'I almost forget about it. Well, you see, Nicky left you, and as you said, it seemed like he was hiding something from you and he said he would move out to a single room simply to make up an excuse to get away, right? But have you thought it over, that you were so close from the beginning, and he hadn't been suspecious before, and then suddenly he left you, and he didn't leave any possibility for you to contact him. I think he's not just GETTING AWAY. He's got a reason to get away, and the reason can be you.'

Shane stared at him for a while. Then he went, 'I don't get it.'

'Of course you don't,' Kian sneered, 'because he didn't and, I'm afraid, will never tell you the truth. Actually, I'm not 100% sure that I'm right, but I think it's reasonable to consider about it this way and maybe this makes you more comfortable. I think he's in some kind of danger now that he can't let you know, and he left you to make sure you don't get involved in it. You've lost touch with not only him but the whole crew of the dance drama, you remember? It's not HIS decision to stay or to leave. There's someone behind it.'

'Carl, you mean? The director?'

'I don't know.'

'Or it must be Muriel.'

'Who?'

'Muriel Shultz. She was one of the dancers, and she kept glancing at us - Jesus, why hadn't I just thought - and that night, those candles with that white powder called what...'

'Devil's Foot.'

'Yeah, what foot - that night she arrived late and she kept defending Felix and she insisted that Felix was a nice person -'

'Sounds like she does have something to do with it.'

'And after Felix got killed, I haven't seen her again.'

'If she's part of it, she'll certainly hide herself well.'

'Does that explain that Nicky's gone? And all others? They're escaping from Muriel?'

Kian fell silent. Shane tried to connect all the information he had - if Kian's right, then Nicky as well as himself was not yet safe, because the former wasn't yet back; but on the other hand, he didn't sense any kind of danger. Then could it be possible that - he stopped himself. He was afraid. He could not leave everything behind and start some sort of new life; he missed the friendship he once had had, he missed waking up to the smell of espresso and a quiet figure by the window, he missed going to bed with a goodnight kiss on his forehead, he missed the fragrance of his perfume -

'Yes, the perfume.' Shane whispered.

'What?'

'No, nothing.'

'What perfume?'

'A girl.'

'What? Why THE perfume?'

'HER perfume. I know it. Nico's been wearing it.'

'A GIRL's perfume?'

'No, it's for men. CK Eternity. That's why I remember it. It's weird.'

'It may be what her boyfriend or brother or father wears.'

'That's what I thought at first. But it was too strong. She's put on some females' fragrance, but it wasn't strong enough to cover it.'

'Interesting. But do you mean that you spent some time being rather close to her?'

'Well, yeah, actually, yes. I was in the Viscount Lounge and she was sitting at the table next to me.'

'You talked?'

'No. But she looked at me and smiled. She was reading.'

'I bet she's hot.'

'Well...I don't call that kind of girls "hot", you know. But yeah, she's beautiful.'

'Oh, nice. But are you an idiot, Shane? She's just sitting next to you and you didn't even say something?'

'I've got Gill. And I said she was READING. You don't talk to someone who's reading, do you. And she didn't stay there for long anyways.'

'You mean she left after she saw you?'

'She glanced at me twice and smiled, and then she left.'

'Oh, well.'

'Maybe that was because I stared at her for too long.'

'She must be more than beautiful, then?'

'Her eyes reminded me of Nico.'

'Sorry?'

'It could be his sister.'

'No, it's not her. Don't tell me you haven't seen her. She doesn't look like that.'

'I mean the kind of emotion.'

'Wait, Shane,' Kian grabbed his wrists, 'shall we take a moment to put what we have now together?'

'What do you mean?'

'Think about this girl. She had Nicky's perfume on, she had the eyes that looked like Nicky's, she looked at you and smiled, she left just a short while after you sat down next to her -'

'And they said there were two boys picking her up outside the pub and that they were close.'

'Oh, my, Shane, I'm afraid you missed him.'

'Him?'

'Have you ever wondered why she reminded you so much about Nicky?'

'You don't wanna say that was him, do you?'

'I do.'

'No. No, that can't happen.'

'Why?'

'He won't ever do anything like crossdressing. He just won't.'

'How do you know?'

'How do you know it was him?'

'Because the girl had too much in common with him.'

'No, Kian, stop it.'

'Have ever seen her again?'

'No. But Dublin has hundreds of pubs, and maybe she was just passing by. Maybe she wasn't even Irish.'

'But man, do you think? Do girls usually act like that in a pub? At that hour? When someone as cool as you are is sitting just next to her?'

'I said she may not even be Irish. She may be here for business.'

'Well, alright. You've got plenty of reasons to believe it's not him, but there's still lots of proof saying that it was. I'm just saying that I think the girl you met was Nicky.'

Shane didn't respond.

They were going home, and he would see Gill very soon. It's Christmas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Well, maybe the title of this chapter has let out the ending...Recently I've explored some songs of the boys that aren't widely known, and I've been quoting the lyrics of these B-side tracks (I always believe that B-sides are sometimes even better than the well-known tracks).


	8. I Will Reach You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicky, along with Francis and Allen, has eventually survived their journey to Metlik and got together with Levi and Eren. For now, they were safe in the shatter they built, but the real thunderstorm in Dublin has just begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work will be completed today since the following chapters are all very short. In this chapter, they've got to Metlik (I've left out the process of how they crossed all the seas and channels by hang glider because I think that will probably be rather boring), but things suddenly changed and ran out of the track.

**PART XXIII**

But that smile you're wearing, it's a beautiful disguise.

\- Heart Without A Home

* * *

'It's Christmas.' Said Levi.

No snow here.

No response.

'People like us,' he continued, 'we never have Christmas. We don't even know who Mam and Dad are. I guess you have heard of our lives, haven't you?'

'Yeah, they've told me.'

'I know they have. We don't have families, not like you. It sounds sad, but we're free. There's nothing and no one to worry about.'

When those words slipped out of his lips, Levi didn't expect any reaction. But Nicky, however, gave him one, which made him regret what he just said, 'I won't need to worry about anything or anyone soon either, I guess.'

Oh no, please, he didn't mean it. Even if this was one very possible consequence, these words shouldn't sound so sure.

Was it really safe in the shatter they would build in Metlik?

 

**PART XXIV**

So letting go tonight, handing you the knife.

\- Wide Open

* * *

'Tell me you're not serious, Marion,' exclaimed Francis into the mic, breaking the quietness of the night, 'please, I beg you.'

After listening for a while, Francis turned off the speaker. 'No!' He shouted desperately, 'It's just a mistake! It's just wrong to go so far!'

'What happened, Franc?' Levi helped him sit down on the ground.

'They're searching for Shane and Nicky all over Dublin.' Francis sighed, 'They've topped the killing list.'

'But Tony and Abbey are there. They'll be fine.'

'No they WON'T. Tony and Abbey got caught and I'm not even sure if they're still ALIVE now.'

'Forest Fish.'

'It must be him.' Francis curled up and pressed his chin on one knee, 'I thought he wouldn't know it, but somehow he did.'

'So what now?'

'Nix!' Called Eren, 'Come here, Nix!'

'What's wrong?'

'Everything. It's going out of control. Someone let our plan out. Now they're searching for you and Shane all over the city.'

'And Tony and Abbey were caught.'

'And probably killed.'

'So what to do now?' Asked Levi again.

After a few seconds of silence, Nicky answered, to everyone's great astonishment, 'Go back to Dublin.'

'Are you fucking mad!?' Levi immediately got up, staring down at the smaller boy, 'You'll die there!'

'Yeah, I know.' Nicky was unusually calm, 'But what if that can save things?'

'It won't. You won't. You have no idea how many people Olga has. You can't take it back once it's already like this. None of us can. Even if we go back together, with only us, we can't make it. We'll all die there, and Shane will get killed -'

'How do you know?' There was determination in his voice.

Silence.

'You mean we're gonna stay here watching them die?' Nicky went on with a lower tone, looking into Levi's eyes.

The latter took a few steps back. 'I mean there's no much difference between going back and staying. They'll die anyways. Olga won't let us stop her. Forest is not a fool.'

'What do you mean there's no much difference? Is it the same whether we stand here and watch or we try to help?'

'But the result is the same.'

'If you wanna stay here, Levi, you can just say it.'

Francis put one hand on Levi's arm and gave him a little squeeze.

'Be ready for anything that Olga might do to you, Nicholas. And be ready to see Shane die in front of you.'

Nicky pulled a brief smile from one side of his lips. He had long been ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading! The plot in the manuscript was even shorter than this. And I think that I should say it now that in the following two chapters we'll see Nicky going head to head with Olga and Forest, and THERE WILL BE 'MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH'.


	9. Fly Me To The Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What could a dream signify? When a dream turned out to be so unreally beautiful, meanwhile so unusually familiar...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look back at [Chapter I](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5128277/chapters/11799428) and you'll find the connection between these two chapters and understand why I say the first chapter is important. Enjoy! x

**PART XXV**

Close your eyes, find out what they're trying to say. (You gotta take a look inside.)

\- Dreams Come True

* * *

'G'night, bud.' Kian turned off the light and quietly closed the white door.

Shane stared into the dark sky behind the window. The moon was there, graceful and bright.

'Hey Nix!' Shane woke up in a sudden.

It was empty by the window.

He got up and walked to the windowsill. The night sky was still there. The moon was still there.

He had a dream. He dreamt of two butterflies. They had beautiful wings, and it was a world filled with all kinds of flowers. He had been there before.

But it must have been different from the last time he was there. It was at night, a night like this one outside, the sky dark and the moon bright. One of the butterflies was heading towards the moon, and the other was chasing it - and when there was just an inch between them, he woke up.

He thought about the dream. Two butterflies. The Moon. Why?

And he felt that he himself had been one of the butterflies.


	10. No More Heroes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Please, make it part of the dream. Make me wake up. Tell me it's all a dream. Just tell me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...one last chapter! But this will be an extremely sad chapter, be ready. Someone will die.

#### PART XXVI

All the rules get broken in your eyes.

\- I Get Weak

* * *

Shane walked out of the shop, heading back to the campus.

Nice spring dusk, warm and sunny.

 

The sun was setting. Scarlet.

Not far away, located The Viscount Lounge. The girl who Kian believed was Nicky wasn't there. Thanks to Kian, Shane stilled remembered her, even he wasn't sure if he wanted to.

Plunket College was a few hundred feet off Swords Rd. Shane walked past the bus stop without paying much attention to the people around him. The road was busy.

Until he heard screams and shouts. He turned around, and there was a young man in black seized by two other men by arms.

Nicky didn't mean to make so much noise, but Ronnie and Marion were acting this scene a bit too passionately. Anyway, now that Shane and all others' attention was attracted to them, he should reconsider their plan.

Then out there, he spotted Olga.

'Fire! Boys, fire!' She cried madly, 'Shoot him!'

Ronnie pulled the trigger and deliberately missed.

'Shit! You're nothing but a piece of shit!' Went Olga again, 'How did you miss at that distance!?'

Marion followed a shot, and he wanted to miss. But when Nicky's body dropped a little, he soon realised that he didn't.

'Bravo!' Olga went on like a psyche, 'Bravo!' No one dared get close to her. Someone called the police, and the sound of the alarm could already be heard.

'Where?' Marion whispered into Nicky's ear.

'Left leg.'

'I'm so sorry.' Marion caught his waist to keep him standing, pretending to fight him down.

Nicky could focus no more on how to act like dying. Shane's reaction shocked him too much.

Their eyes met.

Nicky managed to make a brief but elegant smile, just for one moment, in a blink's time - but however quick he tried to be, he was still late.

All in a sudden, Shane understood what had been and was happening. Like waking up, he saw everything clearly.

A man abruptly turned up from the woods behind Olga. He fired. Shane didn't see the bullet, but he saw how Nicky sank in the arms of Marion without any sign.

He heard Olga screamed, 'Brilliant job, Forest!'

He didn't know how he rushed across the street through the running cars driven by drivers frightened out of their wits. He felt he was one of the butterflies.

Then he heard another shot, along with a horrifying screech. No one cheered for this shot.

The Gardaí arrived and got several people anaesthetised. Ronnie and Marion helped Nicky hide behind a tree by the street and ran away. Shane tried to reach them.

He felt Nicky's body falling into his arms, getting heavier and heavier. Apart from the odor of blood, he recognised the perfume, the eyes, the black clothes, and the voice -

'Leave Dublin, Shane,' Nicky whispered, 'please, just leave. For my sake.'

In the eyes he used to meet every morning, in the gorgeous azur irises with a tinge of melancholy, he saw the sun setting, scarlet. And he saw himself in the glow. Scarlet.

'Please, Shane,' Nicky reached out one hand to hold Shane's, his palm soaked with sweat turning cold, 'leave here,' he continued, with a faint smile, 'leave me.'

Shane brushed aside a block of the wet, blond hair covering Nicky's left eye. He bent forward, lips touching his forehead, leaving a warm mark on the cool skin.

The blue eyes closed.

The fragrance of the perfume remained.

He wished he could hear the whisper, just once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks a mill for finishing this work! And I'm really sorry for such a sad ending. LSD said that I have to write something happy, and I guess I will in the new work I'm planning. So initially the plot was tht Nicky shot Olga in the last minute after he got Forest's shot in the chest. So at last, Shane was saved, and the cost was Nicky's life.  
> 

**Author's Note:**

> Reached 100 hits on 5 Feb 2016, 3 days before the Spring Festival! Huge thanks, xx.  
> When I completed the manuscript, it was the moment school was over on 3 March 2014 (I've been writing all day and not listening much to the teachers ;p), and the next day I made some changes in some parts.  
> I've begun writing it some 5 years ago, and when I read the manuscript again last year when I was ready to post it here, I laughed hard at the stupid language I used when I was younger. If the younger me 5 years ago should read this final version, she'd be angry about my changing so many words and phrases that I had considered rather cool.  
> Special shoutout to WMC once again!! Thank you for being so passionate about this work and rememeber those days when we laughed our ass off in the hallway up on 6th floor outside the counselling room? Good old times.  
> This is volume I of the series, as written in the title, and volume II isn't yet finished. I'll begin updating from 16 August and try to update everyday (you'll see why I do this).


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